We analyze how experiential knowledge can be created, enhanced and used through inbound flows of knowledge from lay patients to healthcare professional and how they are likely to change medical practice.
We analyze the concept of experiential knowledge through the theoretical framework of knowledge management and the socialization, externalization, combination and internalization (SECI) model, considering experiential knowledge as one of the facets of tacit knowledge. To conduct this analysis, we have chosen to place the context of this experiential knowledge of the patient in the field of health. We conducted a case study in a French healthcare organization that provides follow-up care for cancer patients.
We show that experiential knowledge has several facets, that there are favorable and unfavorable conditions for the emergence of experiential knowledge and that experiential knowledge can transform some practices in the provision of care by healthcare professionals when they implement experiential knowledge in their care provision.
We show several results that contribute to improving knowledge about the concept of experiential knowledge. Our analysis and findings contribute to understand how to grasp the value of experiential knowledge. To our knowledge, there is as yet no work that has attempted to understand the impact of experiential knowledge on changes in care delivery practices and their adaptation to patients' needs. We also contribute to discussing the SECI model through the prism of the concept of unconscious tacit knowledge and of the tension between lay and expert knowledge and the intertwined knowledge of patient and practitioner.
