Service quality through managing knowledge integration in healthcare organizations. The case of a rehabilitation centre in Italy

The current demand for a higher quality of service, specifically in the healthcare sector, leads to an increase in the need for caregivers with a qualified professional attitude and advanced competency. Therefore, organizations in this sector, in order to better meet their goals and pursue high standards, need to implement managerial systems which are closely involved in managing knowledge in such a way so as to support work activities and service quality. These prior considerations support the main question of this paper which is: how to provide high-quality care through the use of managerial tools devoted to the management of knowledge. In particular we will consider the role played by factors such as managerial commitment and knowledge integration, and the interaction of these aspects with individual commitment in affecting quality care as perceived by caregivers. Using a knowledge management approach combined with an organizational learning perspective, in this paper we analyze an issue about which relatively little is known. That is, the relationship between care quality - as perceived by physicians, nurses, physiotherapists – individual commitment and managerial mechanisms supporting knowledge integration. The analysis is carried out among healthcare workers in one rehabilitation centre which operates as a Scientific Institute for Hospitalization and Care. The data for this study were gathered through a questionnaire filled in by employees and professionals (i.e. physicians, physiotherapists and nurses). A regression analysis was used to analyze the data coming from a pilot sample (N=33). Prior results show the importance of the link between knowledge management practices and healthcare service quality and gave support to the subsequent research stage, currently in progress, in which the questionnaire was administered to the whole of the centre staff (N=200).