7 minute read
Terri Fiorenza, Kara Pollard, Melinda Scott
from HIM-Interchange
by HIMAA.org.au
A special year for health information management awareness in 2019
Milla Krivozhnya, Sadiya Askar, Terri Fiorenza, Kara Pollard, Melinda Scott
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Health Information Management Awareness Week
Milla Krivozhnya Health Information Management Awareness Week turned into the Health Information Management Awareness Month in 2019 as the Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA) celebrated the 70 year anniversary of the profession. For the whole month of May our members were busy organising branch events and celebrations, lobby displays, Health Information Services (HIS) department tours and social functions, and making headlines in their health organisations’ newsletters.
Health Information Management Awareness Week has been on HIMAA’s annual calendar since 2016 when, in my role as the Marketing and Events Manager, I proposed the initiative to the HIMAA Board. The idea was to honour and celebrate the health information management professionals and to raise awareness that Health Information Managers (HIMs) have the knowledge, skills and motivation to contribute to and improve the health care system in Australia, together with the health and wellness of the nation.
Positioning and advocacy has been a very difficult thing for the profession for many years and the neglect of health services to recognise the worth of HIMs was identified as a priority for HIMAA’s Strategic Plan. This innovative idea to promote the profession through the annual Health Information Management Awareness Week has taken our members to the next level. The enthusiasm of the profession to be involved in one way or another is indicative of the right approach we have chosen for our self-promotion.
As part of the strategy, HIMAA developed a Positioning and Advocacy Tool Kit, which is a collection of hints on how you can communicate the strengths and value of the HIM profession within your organisation. HIMAA National Office also supports all participants by providing Health Information Management Awareness Week Posters, suggested events lists, and merchandise that can be used as gifts and prizes.
During the Health Information Management Awareness Month in 2019 our members showed us how innovative they could be, from posters to cakes, professional development days, meetings, open days and much more. HIMAA has been completely overwhelmed by the efforts of our participating members from both the public and private sectors.
Jenny Gilder and Phyllis Watson
Following are some of the events that took place in 2019, shared by active supporters of Health Information Management Awareness Month.
Sadiya Askar The La Trobe University Health Information Management Student Association (HIMSA) organised an aerial photograph of the La Trobe health information management students and health information management academic staff forming the letters H I M on campus grounds. This event brought together health information management students from first year to final year along with the postgraduate students. Students who were passing by from other disciplines, such as biomedicine and physiotherapy, also happily joined in.
The idea for the aerial photograph came from Jenn Lee, one of the health information management academic staff at the university. As a student association, it has been a great help to have the support of the academic staff, and the HIMSA executive team truly appreciate their advice and encouragement. The assistance from HIMAA allowed the event to be a great success, with the association providing of a number of goodies, such as t-shirts, pens and other merchandise to attract students to participate in the event.
The event was a great opportunity for the health information management students to meet and interact with each other, as they would not normally cross paths. I had the chance to speak with first year students who had chosen this degree, but were unsure about what was in store for them as they progressed through the course. As a final year student I was able to explain how professional placements in second, third and final year really help solidify the theory we learn to practice and enables you to develop a deep appreciation and passion for the industry. Health information management students who raised awareness of our profession to other disciplines enabled the health information management course to be acknowledged by non- health information management La Trobe students. Even if we did not convince them to enrol in the health information management course, at least we hope we made the clinical students aware of their clinical documentation practices and non-clinical students aware of the impact HIMs have within the health industry.
Kara Pollard Central Coast Local Health District celebrated Health Information Management Awareness Month with department open days on 22 and 23 May 2019. We focussed on the theme ‘Health Records through the Ages’ and displayed the different ways that medical records have been stored, back to the 1950s. All the staff enjoyed the day and we celebrated the great work done by all our HIS staff with a team lunch at each site.
Students at La Trobe University
It was a great experience to get the health information management academic staff and health information management students together to share health information management experiences and participate in an event that essentially was just a simple photograph. It truly showcased the warm, inclusive and supportive nature of our profession as all involved enjoyed connecting with each other and working towards raising awareness of our industry. Health Information Service Open Day at Central Coast Local Health District
This is our third year running open days for Health Information Management Awareness Week, and staff really love the opportunity to show the rest of the hospital what they do and the variety of roles in the HIS department.
Terri Fiorenza This year Northern Health held a morning tea in celebration of HIMs. An article was also written for the organisation’s iNews on the roles, responsibilities and achievements of HIMs.
Morning Tea at Northern Health
The Health Information Management Awareness event is a good initiative and it’s great for this to continue annually. It’s important to acknowledge the health information management profession in particular within health services, and it is a good opportunity for HIMs to promote the important work they do within their organisations.
As a suggestion for future years, it would be great for social gatherings to be coordinated at a state level during Health Information Management Awareness Week in celebration of HIMs.
The Prince Charles Hospital, Queensland
Melinda Scott The Prince Charles Hospital HIS team had lots of fun participating in Health Information Management Awareness Month and Privacy Awareness Week in May 2019. We partnered with the Office of the Information Commissioner to raise awareness about privacy and promote the important work that HIS undertakes.
Living in the basement, next to the mortuary and kitchen, it was a great opportunity to get out and about and host a booth in the hospital canteen and hand out information sheets and goodies to interested staff, patients and visitors. As part of the week our HIMs also undertook a privacy audit across the clinical areas of the hospital.
The team felt that it was very worthwhile participating in the Health Information Management Awareness Month as it was a great opportunity to promote our speciality services that embrace the overall commitment to the management and provision of quality patient information. Health Information Management and Privacy Awareness Event at the Prince Charles Hospital
Health Information Management Awareness Week 2020 The Health Information Management Awareness Week is back in 2020 and will be held as usual during the third week of May (11-17 May 2020) – so save the date! HIMAA welcomes all previous participants back and encourages everyone else to contribute by spreading the word about the profession. To order a promotion pack please contact HIMAA Events Team at events@himaa.org.au.
Together we are stronger in actively promoting the profession that is at the heart of the health care system.
Milla Krivozhnya BSBM Marketing and Events Manager Health Information Association of Australia North Ryde NSW 1670 Tel: 61 2 9887 5821 Email: millak@himaa.org.au Sadiya Askar BHlthSc, BHlthInfoMan Past President (2019), Health Information Management Student Association (HIMSA) La Trobe University Bundoora Vic 3086 Terri Fiorenza BHIM, GDipHlthInformatics Director, Health Information Services Northern Health Epping Vic 3076 Kara Pollard B.Hlth Sci (HIM), CHIM A/ District Health Information Manager, Health Information Services Central Coast Local Health District Gosford NSW 2250 Melinda Scott BBus (HIM), CHIA Director, Clinical Health Information Services The Prince Charles Hospital Chermside Qld 4032
