Achieving Added Value in a Knowledge-Intense Organization: One Hospital's Journey

Fifteen years have passed since Sorrells-Jones and Weaver1, 2 and 3 authored a series of articles describing knowledge workers and knowledge-intense organizations. The series explored, among other things, the notion of nurses as knowledge workers, the requirements of leaders of knowledge workers, and system changes necessary to support knowledge workers. During the intervening years, progress has been made at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB Health). During this time, there have also been technological advances that make information and knowledge accessible to the clinician at the point of care, often via the use of hand-held devices, and there has been widespread adoption of electronic health records. This article describes 1 hospital's journey toward the knowledge-intense future envisioned by Sorrells-Jones and Weaver that may prove useful to other organizations.