Integrating Social Care into Digital Knowledge Infrastructures in Dementia Care

Abstract

This paper presents initial findings from an ongoing Danish PhD design research study that investigates the integration of different types of knowledge and data, with a particular focus on the often-neglected social care within digital knowledge infrastructures. The study employs ethnographic and participatory design activities to investigate how existing knowledge infrastructures facilitate care workers in identifying and understanding unmet needs among people with dementia in two Danish nursing homes. This paper presents three identified barriers that hinder effective knowledge sharing in social care: the availability of knowledge within EHR systems, 2) the ease of documentation processes in EHR, and 3) the accessibility of EHR for specific professional groups. Consequently, the focus on nursing care in documentation leads to a corresponding emphasis on nursing care delivery. To enhance the prioritization of social care, this paper argues that it is essential to provide care workers with improved support from knowledge infrastructures that address these three barriers.