KMbeing

Unfortunately, I have been ill with a bacterial infection – and am actually writing this blog while in hospital this past week. There’s definitely something wrong with me – and not just for writing a blog from a hospital bed. To put it bluntly, my neck has a golf ball size lump that medical teams, blood work and CT scans are still trying to figure out. 

As I sit writing this with an i.v. drip hooked in my arm, I debated whether I should even write a blog (or even share my personal information). But as anyone who has ever stayed in a hospital can tell you, there’s plenty of time on your hands as you start feeling better, (yet aren’t quite ready to be released). I also owe something to my regular KMbeing blog readers, Twitter followers (@KMbeing), colleagues and supporters who might be wondering “what’s up?” with a lack of recent posts or contact. The good news is my doctors expect me to be released for further home recovery within a couple more days where I’ll continue using antibacterial medication with the hope that the golf ball in my neck continues to get smaller.

(This is my CT scan with my chin at the top. On the upper-right is my normal jaw line and on the upper left is my growth)

While in hospital, I’m still thinking about my work in Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) – particularly on a more personal level – not on my usual professional level as a Digital Researcher. As I interact daily with the daily rounds of how everyone here in the hospital seems to communicate – informing and being informed from many directions about how to improve my medical issue – I again see how KMb is more than just knowledge dissemination. KMb is multi-directional and multi-layered. It has a personal level and a professional level. KMb is not just about providing or exchanging information. KMb is about contributing personal knowledge to a range of people who also contribute collaboratively with the end result creating benefit or improvement.

Doctors, nurses, radiologists, medical students, and even other patients all contribute individually to a collective knowledge process personally and professionally. Personally, it’s important for me as a patient (or any patient) to learn from them to help me (or anyone) get better. Professionally, it’s also important for them to learn from the experiences of individual patients to provide better care for other patients and provide overall benefit to the greater medical profession. By providing and receiving a variety of inputs of knowledge (including abilities, experience, and stories) – not just information – improvement is made by health care teams both personally and professionally.

I have questioned and have been questioned by health care workers and other patients. I have listened to and have been listened to by a variety of hospital staff and other illness sufferers. 

This isn’t just due to my illness. I have always been a person curious about many things, asking questions, enjoying learning from the experiences of others, and teaching from my own. As my illness has progressed and runs its course, I’ve learned much about bacterial infections and the process of treatment that I never realized before.

In the end, this is probably the most personal KMbeing blog I will write. However, I feel and think it’s important to look inside AND outside our individual knowledge boxes. We need to unpack a few personal things on our professional desks and let everyone see, contribute to, and take away from. Then, the final improvement is not only on a personal level (my own health improvement), but also on the greater scale of social improvement through the growth of knowledge mobilization. (Ah-hum…pun intended).