HIMAA ONLINE

The monthly digital newsletter of the Health Information Management Association of Australia Limited
Volume 8 | Issue 09 | Digital
Catherine Garvey
Catherine Garvey

President - HIMAA

Catherine Garvey
Catherine Garvey

President - HIMAA

President's Report

I think I can speak for the SA Branch in thanking the Conference Committee, our generous sponsors, the fantastic line up of speakers and presenters, and last but not least, our energetic, engaging and enthusiastic delegates, all of whom contributed to a successful and enjoyable Adelaide Conference in October.  Sadly, the weather was not as warm and welcoming, but we had a wonderful time being your host.  I was particularly taken by the richness of the Aboriginal language which we learned from Kaurna and Narungga Elder, Jack Kaya Kudnuitya Buckskin, in his Welcome to Country, in particular the local name for Adelaide being the Land of the Red Kangaroo dreaming (Tarndanyagga) and a word for the place where many of us work kukkawadli (hospital).  It was stimulating to be able to engage at many levels and ways during our first face-to-face conference since the pandemic hit.  As always there were fascinating stories to be told, research (successful and unsuccessful in nature) shared, and networking to die for.  It was for me inspirational and re-energising and I hope that carried across to all delegates.  By the way, if by chance you attended the final close and left a white paper bag under your chair in the back row, let me know who you are and I will send the contents to you.

It is a great privilege for me to assume the role of President of HIMAA for the upcoming year, taking the baton from Cheens Lee, who juggled his daytime job, the arrival of his family’s third born and studying a Masters degree during his tenure. The Board and I sincerely thank Cheens for his dedication and support to our profession.  Shortly after the Conference the Board met and elected James Katte as Senior Vice President (SVP) and Kara Pollard as Vice President (VP).  In addition, we established the alignment of Board Directors with the various committees and groups, which will be uploaded to the Members Only section on the webpage, as part of their portfolio.  The Board nominated and agreed on the casual appointment of Cassandra (Cassie) Rupnik as an additional Director and welcomed Shane Sanfilippo and Louise Edmonds to the Board.

I look forward to a busy agenda for the upcoming year. We have a significant event in the form of the IFHIMA/HIMAA Conference in Brisbane next October/ November; preparations are already well underway.  I will be meeting with our AHIMA colleagues to share insights and experiences into the visibility, advocacy and representation of our profession.  I want to pursue our vision To ensure health information management is seen as a valued and valuable health profession with purpose and practice for our professional community.  This is not something I or the Board can achieve alone.  I need each member to be a Vision ambassador to share and cultivate ideas and experiences, not only within our group but to the multi-disciplinary teams and diverse environments of our workplaces and beyond. 

For instance, I would love to see an increase in our research work across the country, with articles offered for the HIM-I on your local knowledge, skills and practices.  Every one of us has a story or two to share. Reach out to our supportive Research Committee and our Education Board to develop these stories into shared vision for your peers and inspire the next generation of HIMs, just as many of our Life Members were inspirational for us.  Gear up with your local branch and raise issues of interest and challenge to create the conversation which can change the profession for the better. Join one of our Communities of Practice or committees to give support to your colleagues in addressing matters at the heart of what we do. There are so many ways as members you can become inspired! Help us to help you.

I hope to catch up with various groups in the upcoming months so that we can shine a light on our valuable profession.

Catherine Garvey
President

catherineg@himaa.org.au

Table of Contents
From the CEO's desk
From the CEO's desk

Jae Redden | CEO, HIMAA

From the CEO's desk

From the CEO's desk

Jae Redden | CEO, HIMAA

What a Conference it was! The 19th HIMAA National Conference was held 26-28 October at the Hilton Adelaide with around 270 delegates. There were many highlights enjoyed by all, as witnessed by the following feedback: The opening plenary session (Acknowledgement of Country, Health Minister address and the address by Brigadier Isaac Seidl) was fantastic. Possibly the best opening plenary I had seen at a HIMAA conference in years.

I would like to thank the outgoing Board members, Sallyanne Wissmann, Grant Duffill and the President, Cheens Lee, for their time, contribution and commitment to their roles and HIMAA. I welcome the incoming and returning Board members, Louise Edmonds, Shane Sanfilippo and James Katte. In a recent meeting, the Board also extended an invitation to Cassandra Rupnik, to join as a casual member. We are delighted to include her contribution and expertise to the Board.

My congratulations go to the award recipients announced at the Conference, in particular  Life Membership awarded to Barbara Postle and Sue Walker for their dedication and contribution to the profession and the Association. They join an esteemed list of Life Members at https://www.himaa.org.au/membership/celebrated-members/. In addition, we announced the following State and National Practitioner and Student Awards:

NSW PRACTITIONER OF THE YEARCATHERINE MURATORE
VIC PRACTITIONER OF THE YEARMERILYN RILEY
SA PRACTITIONER OF THE YEARCHRIS ROBEY
QLD PRACTITIONER OF THE YEARRACHEL THURSFIELD
QLD STUDENT OF THE YEARKERILYN DONG
NATIONAL PRACTITIONER OF THE YEARMERILYN RILEY
NATIONAL STUDENT OF THE YEARKERILYN DONG

 

We are progressing well with organising the joint 2023 40th IFHIMA Congress and 20th HIMAA National Conference. Abstract submissions have closed and we are delighted to report we received over 100 submissions worldwide. We are aiming to have a draft program and registration ready in February 2023.

The new membership software and website have been launched. You use your elected sign-in email as User ID and reset your password to access. The new website contains:

  • Updated content, including uploading 2022 Conference Prospectus in Member Resources
  • Integrated Education Services with the main website
  • Shop
  • Member Directory.

Early in 2023 we will release an upgraded version of the Online Forum as well as the online CPD tracker once we re-review the Professional Credentialling Scheme later in 2023. If you do not remember your access details, please refer to our communication with the email address we have on our record. If this is no longer correct or you are having other issues, please contact websupport@himaa.org.au. We are excited to bring more features and functionality to our members with this implementation.

Consultation is taking place with our members on Aged Care Quality Standards and Diagnosis Complexity Level Masking. You can add your voice to these important issues through HIMAA as a member. Please see our social media posts and website on how you can participate.

The State Branches are planning end-of-year events, including Tasmania, NSW and Queensland. I enjoyed meeting with our Tasmanian colleagues on 18 November and look forward to meeting NSW and Queensland members at their branch events on 29 November and 9 December respectively. All the details are here.

Please feel free to reach out to me to chat.

Jae Redden

Chief Executive Officer

ceo@himaa.org.au

Member News

Latest news and updates submitted by members. Any member updates, please submit to membership@himaa.org.au.

Education News

Student Profile

Our student of the month for November is Kirsty Willaton from Warrnambool in Victoria. Kirtsy scored 89% for clinical coding and has completed the 22274VIC Certificate IV in Clinical Classification. We asked Kirsty the following questions. What led you to enrol in our entry level course? I work at a public hospital in administration and wanted to learn more and advance my career in healthcare however I do not have

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Editorial Board

Latest from HIMJ

Since last HIMAA Matters, HIMJ has published five On-line First articles. Research article  Professional identity and workplace motivation: A case study of health information managers Abbey Nexhip, Merilyn Riley, Kerin Robinson. August 15, 2022 | OnlineFirst A cross-sectional online survey was administered to the 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2015 Australian health information management and medical record administration graduate cohorts from one university in Victoria, to investigate the motivators of HIMs in the construction of their professional identity and associated relationships to job satisfaction and engagement with their profession. This study examined the characteristics of members of the profession who have different motivation profiles; HIMs’ perspectives on their professional identity; and correlations between HIMs’ professional identity and different motivational factors. Research article  Development, implementation, and evaluation of the Australian Stroke Data Tool (AuSDaT): Comprehensive data capturing for multiple uses Olivia Ryan, Jot Ghuliani, Brenda Grabsch, Kelvin Hill, Geoffrey C Cloud, Sibilah Breen, Monique F Kilkenny, Dominique A Cadilhac October 31, 2022 | OnlineFirst Historically, national programs for collecting stroke data in Australia required the use of multiple online tools, where overlapping variables were entered for the same patient in the different databases. From 2013 to 2016, the Australian Stroke Data Tool (AuSDaT) was built as an integrated data management solution. This paper describes the development, implementation, and evaluation phases of establishing the AuSTDaT. Editorial  The emergence of health information in aged care Carol Loggie and Jenny Davis. October 31, 2022 | OnlineFirst Guest Editors Carol Loggie and Jenny Davis explore different aspects of

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