Expert-local interaction: Using dynamic models to enable knowledge transfer to health care administrators in developing nations

This study explores the use of dynamic, computer-based models to facilitate two-way knowledge transfer between public administrators in developing nations and foreign technical advisors. A team of experts from a U.S.-based nonprofit used animated discrete-event models to demonstrate new principles and processes to health care administrators in China and the Philippines. Although each group responded in ways that confirmed understanding of innovative approaches, the models also stimulated increased participation by the nursing group in some situations. The external advisors were able to use the simulations to extract local knowledge and develop contextual insights as well.; Policy makers and managers increasingly borrow from policies and practices developed elsewhere, but understanding and adapting lessons drawn from the experience of others requires an ability to learn new policy concepts and comprehend the often complex information that accompanies them. This work utilizes a conceptual model for the transfer of knowledge between nations, suggesting that flows of ideas and information have come to play a pivotal role in development. Public policy concepts and process patterns are represented as flowing in parallel to private-sector technology streams, making it possible to draw lessons by analogy from the experience of nations that have used imported commercial knowledge to achieve rapid and sustainable development. By enhancing the ability of public officials to absorb and utilize external knowledge, developing nations may improve both the quality of public services and the investment environment that creates employment and other opportunities.; Imported approaches must often overcome a variety of cultural, linguistic, and perceptional hurdles that complicate or impede their successful application. This study suggests that dynamic models can lower some of these barriers. It also demonstrates a mechanism that can encourage feedback on local customs and practices in ways that allow external knowledge to be adapted to the local context.