Embedding knowledge transfer to increase productivity in school nursing.

Forkuo, Anthony Kwaku

Abstract

This article is a discussion paper aimed at school nursing leaders and, importantly, nursing managers and academics who are looking for ways to sustain nursing services. With austerity, there is a compelling demand for future NHS services including school nursing to effectively identify, manage, share, and transfer the knowledge externally sourced and internally developed to support productivity improvements. Productivity has been applied liberally in this article by its narrow definition, that is: ratio of outputs (number of school nursing interventions) compared to the inputs used to deliver the intervention (number of school nurses). NHS services have faced productivity challenges, which have resulted in a search for ways to run safely and efficiently. Knowledge assets are abundant in school nursing and reside within interactions with children, young people and their families; policies and procedures; as well as in connected agencies such as education and social care. The turbulence of the austerity measures can make NHS school nursing services' knowledge, experience, and expertise a dominant source of increasing productivity. The service needs to transfer expert knowledge as it seeks to develop efficient application of resources and survive the turbulence. Evidence from businesses in the service sector shows that internal transfer of knowledge and expertise across teams leads to increased productivity. Considering that this has been possible within the service sector, knowledge transfer may provide a key to unleashing productivity potential in NHS school nursing service. Central to this debate to lift school nursing productivity is a need to understand the drivers of productivity and recognising that other factors like investment also impact on productivity. This is an economy-wide issue, however, the school nursing service itself can have a unique impact on this debate.

Citation

FORKUO, A.K. 2017. Embedding knowledge transfer to increase productivity in school nursing. British journal of school of nursing [online], 12(10), pages 480-484. Available from: https://doi.org/10.12968/bjsn.2017.12.10.480

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 24, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Dec 15, 2017
• Publication Date: Dec 2, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 16, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 3, 2018
• Journal: British Journal of School Nursing
• Print ISSN: 1752-2803
• Electronic ISSN: 2052-2827
• Publisher: Mark Allen Healthcare
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 480-484
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.12968/bjsn.2017.12.10.480
• Keywords: School nursing service; Knowledge transfer; Increased productivity; Business necessity; Knowledge repositories
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2675