KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND INFORMATION CREDIBILITY AS CORRELATES OF DECISION MAKING AMONG HEALTH PRACTITIONERS IN FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTRES NORTH-CENTRAL ZONE NIGERIA

Abstract

The research work was carried out on knowledge sharing and information credibility as correlate of decision making among health practitioners in federal medical centres in North-Central, Nigeria. The study was guided by six objectives and six corresponding research questions. Among the objectives of the study were to: examine decision making 2 process among health practitioners in federal medical centres in North-Central Zone Nigeria, identify Factors influencing decision making process among health practitioners in federal medical centres in North-Central Zone Nigeria, identify how knowledge is being shared among health practitioners in Federal Medical Centre North-Central Zone Nigeria to mention but a few. Survey research design method was adopted for the study. The total population for the study was four hundred and sixty-nine (469) medical practitioners in five federal medical centres in North-Central, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used for this study. Questionnaire was the only instrument used for data collection. Out of three hundred and seventy-four (374) copies of questionnaire administered in accordance to the sample size obtained using the Krejcie and Morgan 1970 recommended table for determining sample size, three hundred and sixty-one (361) copies of questionnaire were filled, returned and used for the analysis. Descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the data. It was observed that 191 (52.9%) of the respondents (medical practitioners) are males, while 170 (47.1%) of them are females. Results from the findings shows that five items were listed for health practitioners to respond on their decision making processes. In decision-making process, I choose among alternatives (x̅=3.55; SD=0.57), item 1: I conceptualize ideas during decision making processes (x̅=3.31; SD=0.68), item 5: During decision making processes, I evaluate every decision made (x̅=3.22; SD=0.69), item 3: I identify alternatives during decision-making process (x̅=3.08; SD=0.99) and item 2: During decision making processes I gather relevant information (x̅=2.86; SD=1.08). Furthermore, six items were listed for health practitioners to respond on the methods used in knowledge sharing. Only four items produced high mean scores which were above the bench mark of 2.50. These items include item 1: Facebook (x̅=3.63; SD=0.58), item 3: Twitter (x̅=3.32; SD=0.85), item 2: LinkedIn (x̅=1.87; SD=0.96) which indicate disagree, it does not meet the bench mark 2.50, item 6: WhatsApp (x̅=3.18; SD=0.89) item 5: Pinterest indicate (x̅=1.58; SD=0.56) falling below benchmark which signifies disagree and item 4: Telegram (x̅=2.79; SD=0.72). The findings revealed that health practitioners conceptualised ideas during decision making processes, also gathered relevant information. Similarly, insufficient time, poor information supply, fatigue during decision making process are factors which influenced decision making among health practitioners in federal medical centres, North Central Nigeria. In conclusion, decision making process is a continuous and indispensable component when managing any health organisation, however, factors such as lack of consistency in publishing health information, hectic process involved in sharing information, has negatively affected decision making among health practitioners in the federal medical centres studied, with all these, there would not be effective knowledge sharing and credible information dissemination among health practitioners for better decision making process in the federal medical centres studied. The study recommended among others that provision of equipment to aid medical practitioners in decision making processes and ensure the provision of only rich information were provided, the management of federal medical centres in North-Central Zone, Nigeria should encourage medical practitioners to use social media platforms for knowledge sharing which was used by many, the management should also encourage medical practitioners through workshops, seminars and conferences that only credible information should be shared as not all information especially on social media were found to be reliable.