Inclusiveness in Healthcare: Knowledge Ecosystems Innovation in Oncology and Chronic Disease

A chronic disease represents major changes in patients' life, unknown scenarios, and high-stress situations. New limitations also create risks of social exclusion, fragility, dependence and sometimes claudication. This practical innovation contributes to promoting well-being and innovation for all. The aim is the patient ' s self-care, well-being and quality of life through a strategic knowledge management methodology with virtual community support. Knowledge management is a holistic approach to business strategy. The proposal is to apply this approach to patient's self-care, focusing on the change of life habits and the management of healthy actions instead of healing; from a comprehensive approach to physical, social and emotional health. A personal strategic benchmarking system framework and a virtual community accelerate patient adaptation and learning about the disease. The patient continues to participate virtually in the society and is enriched with this relationship, knowledge sharing, and dynamics, as well as with the tacit knowledge of other patients. A coach develops the community as a knowledge mini-ecosystem and it is the key link between the patient's self-care and community expert knowledge. This self-organized virtual community collaborates with different resources, including crowdfunding actions. It is developed without institutional promotion. The methodology is based on science design and qualitative research with cases of study on patients in Bolivia and Spain. The key to innovation is social networks and human capital. The framework simplicity makes it easily scalable for quality of life-improving in patients including underdeveloped countries. A virtual community offers a sense of membership, friendship, and inclusiveness for patients. This sustainable framework contributes to patients' well-being, quality of life, happiness, and health condition acceptance, understanding, normalizing life with the independence of chronic diseases by making lifestyle changes easier during all disease stages. It is a microlevel propose but with macrolevel impact in society. It also impacts in healthcare problem solving, sustainable growth and innovation for all in chronic patients with exclusion risk.