Assessing the facilitators and challenges to knowledge sharing in a hospital pharmacy environment: A case study

Background: Any hindrance to knowledge management negatively impacts workflow efficiency and the quality of pharmaceutical care, which relies heavily on knowledge sharing. Failure to provide quality pharmaceutical services, which resultantly breeds patient dissatisfaction, can harm the reputation of the pharmacy staff or even the entire hospital. Understanding barriers to knowledge-sharing, and therefore how to tackle them, is critical to improving the quality of pharmaceutical care. Methods: A structured questionnaire was administered to 26 participants, including pharmacists, pharmacist interns, and pharmacist assistants, to extract enablers and barriers to knowledge-sharing in a hospital pharmacy environment. Results: The study revealed knowledge-sharing facilitators and barriers at Oshakati Hospital pharmacy, most of which are in the literature, and some unique to this setting. The facilitators and barriers can be classified as organizational, individual, or technological. Conclusion: Revealing knowledge-sharing enablers and barriers is important to enhance the knowledge-sharing process, which in turn impacts decision-making and pharmaceutical care standards. Therefore, tackling hindrances to knowledge-sharing is beneficial to patient care and well-being.