Evaluating Factors Affecting Knowledge Sharing Among Health Care Professionals in the Medical Imaging Departments of 2 Cancer Centers: Concurrent Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Background: Knowledge sharing is a crucial part of any knowledge management implementation. It refers to sharing skills and experience among team members in an organization. In a health care setting, sharing knowledge, whether tacit or explicit, is important and can lead to better health care services. In medical imaging departments, knowledge sharing can be of particular importance. There are several factors that affect knowledge-sharing practices in medical imaging departments: individual, departmental, and technological. Evaluating the importance of these factors and understanding their use can help with improving knowledge-sharing practices in medical imaging departments.

Objective: We aimed to assess the level of motivation, identify current knowledge-sharing tools, and evaluate factors affecting knowledge sharing in the medical imaging departments of 2 cancer centers, The Christie, United Kingdom, and the Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC).

Methods: A concurrent mixed methods study was conducted through nonprobability sampling techniques between February 1, 2023, and July 30, 2023. Semistructured interviews were used to validate the results of the quantitative analysis. Data were collected using an electronic questionnaire that was distributed among health care professionals in both cancer centers using Qualtrics. Semistructured interviews were conducted online using Microsoft Teams. The quantitative data were analyzed using the Qualtrics MX software to report the results for each question, whereas the qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic approach with codes classified through NVivo.

Results: In total, 56 respondents from the KCCC and 29 from The Christie participated, with a 100% response rate (56/56, 100% and 29/29, 100%, respectively) based on the Qualtrics survey tool. A total of 59% (17/29) of health care professionals from The Christie shared their knowledge using emails and face-to-face communication as their main tools on a daily basis, and 57% (32/56) of health care professionals from the KCCC used face-to-face communication for knowledge sharing. The mean Likert-scale score of all the components that assessed the factors that affected knowledge-sharing behaviors fell between "somewhat agree" and "strongly agree" in both centers, excepting extrinsic motivation, which was rated as "neither agree nor disagree." This was similar to the results related to incentives. It was shown that 52% (15/29) of health care professionals at The Christie had no incentives to encourage knowledge-sharing practices. Therefore, establishing clear policies to manage incentives is important to increase knowledge-sharing practices.

Conclusions: This study offered an evaluation of factors that affect knowledge sharing in 2 cancer centers. Most health care professionals were aware of the importance of knowledge-sharing practices in enhancing health care services. Several challenges were identified, such as time constraints, a lack of staff, and the language barrier, which limit knowledge-sharing practices. Therefore, establishing a clear policy for knowledge sharing is vital to practicing knowledge-sharing behaviors and facing any challenges that limit this practice.

Keywords: Kuwait Cancer Control Center; The Christie; cancer centers; challenges; concurrent mixed methods; definition; factors; knowledge management; knowledge sharing; mechanisms; medical imaging departments; practices.