Healthcare and pharmaceuticals

Clinical evidence goes electronic

TSO (The Stationery Office) is working with the British Medical Journal Publishing Group, creating an electronic compendium that is integrating all the paper-based information from the group’s original ‘Clinical Evidence’, detailing current knowledge about the prevention and treatment of clinical conditions.

There is a strong case for organisations taking a cohesive approach to information management. Companies have not paid sufficient attention to this in the past. Even though information has existed within organisations, it has been concealed in different business processes and systems.

TSO believe that businesses see content management, knowledge management and electronics and document records systems as separate parts of the system and processes that require specialised information technology. Each of these processes manages information but in compartmentalised systems, therefore hindering rather than enabling knowledge sharing.
Knowledge management needs to become part of the overall business strategy for it to be a success. Technology will only go so far in altering processes and taking the pain away, so if knowledge management technologies are not fully integrated, they are only working at 50 per cent efficiency.

Companies need to put in effective information management strategies now so that they know what information is held within their systems, and learn how to manage information and share knowledge, better.

TSO, St Crispins, Duke St, Norwich NR3 1PD. Tel: 01603 622211; www.tso.co.uk; Contact: Paul Ellis.

IM@T Online July 2003