36 HIM-INTERCHANGE Vol 4 No 3 2014 ISSN 1838-8620 (PRINT) ISSN 1838-8639 (ONLINE)

CONFERENCE REPORT25th PORMIKI & 3rd IFHIMA SEAR Conference. ‘Enforcing the strategic role of HIMs in developing better countries’. Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 24-27 March 2014Phyllis J Watson, AM

In 1992, after attending the IFHRO Congress in Canada, I was invited to the first conference of the newly formed Indonesian Professionals on Medical Records and Health Information Organization (PORMIKI) by their first President, Gemala Hatta, a graduate of our health information manage-ment program at Cumberland College in Sydney, who came to Australia under the Colombo Plan and graduated in 1976. PORMIKI now has 5,400 members.

In late March 2014, I had the pleasure of attending the 25th Conference of PORMIKI and the 3rd IFHIMA SEAR Conference and their Silver Anniversary celebrations at the Sheraton Mustika Yogyakarta Hotel. The conference had originally been planned for mid-February but had to be postponed following the eruption of a volcano near the city of Yogyakarta, which was subsequently covered in ash. Originally, both Ulli Hoffmann (Germany) and Carol Lewis (USA) were to have attended, along with representatives from Japan and India. Unfortunately, with the postponement, they were unable to attend and I was the only international delegate. You can imagine the work that went into organising the conference and then having to postpone it virtually at the last moment. We had two days’ notice of the postponement.

The conference began with a welcome dance and a young choir singing the Indonesian national song followed by a welcome address from the PORMIKI President, Elise Garmelia. The Vice Minister of Health, Ministry of Health, Republic of

Indonesia, Prof. Dr Ali Gufron Mukti, officially opened the meeting, followed by Dr Sjahjehan, WHO Representative to Indonesia, who welcomed participants on behalf of WHO. The keynote address was given by Prof. Dr Syed Al Junid, United Nations University, International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH), Malaysia, who had designed Indonesia’s Case Base Group in Health Care Financing for the new Social Security Administration Agency system (Hatta 2014). Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono was also to have welcomed delegates but was unable to attend on the day.

I was proud to be included in the official party. We were presented with a ‘lei’, similar to the Hawaiian necklace, of real Yasmine flowers during the opening ceremony. It was a bright and lively opening that set the theme for an interesting meeting.

The first plenary session focused on universal health coverage. The keynote address, Universal health coverage in Indonesia, was given by Prof. Ali Gufron Mukti. Other papers included Enhancement of medical records systems to support universal coverage in developing countries (Prof. Dr Aljunid); Evaluating the quality of coded morbidity data (prepared by Carol Lewis (USA) and delivered by a member of the organising committee); and Review of professional standards (by Siswati, a senior member of PORMIKI and member of the organising committee).

Professor Phyllis Watson AM, with Siswati Suwarto (Lecturer), Elise Garmelia (PORMIKI President) and students holding complimentary copies of HIMJ

Professor Phyllis Watson AM, officially closed the conference by striking a gong three times and then made music with Gemala Hatta

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The afternoon sessions commenced with a presentation by the main sponsor, MercyCorps, followed by three streams covering National health coverage, Electronic health records and Improving HIM quality. These three areas plus Clinical classification and coding were covered extensively over the two days of the conference and were similar in type to topics presented at our conferences and seminars. Time was also allocated for participants to view the poster presentations, which were excellent, a number having been prepared by students from the many schools represented.

An IFHIMA SEAR Meeting was held at the end of the day but, unfortunately, as the other international representa-tives, including the IFHIMA SEAR Director, Kukiko Yokobori from Japan, were unable to be there, the discussion was limited to IFHIMA’s Strategic Direction for 2013. The three areas covered included Membership, Advocacy and Knowledge domain with most interest directed towards education and the EHR. Discussions were interesting but with time limitations not as productive as expected.

The PORMIKI IFHIMA SEAR Gala Dinner was a highlight of the confer-ence, hosted by HRH Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, at the Royal Palace Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, which was founded in 1755 by Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono 1. The 140 guests were seated around beautifully decorated round tables

and enjoyed the lavish dinner prepared and served by special royal staff. After a sumptuous meal, we were entertained by musicians playing traditional music, followed by four traditional royal dances, one of which was created by the late King. Elise Garmelia, President of PORMIKI, welcomed members and guests and Gemala Hatta thanked the Sultan on behalf of PORMIKI and guests. As the Sultan was unable to attend in person, his youngest daughter HRH Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Bendara warmly welcomed guests on his behalf and presented the Sultan’s speech of welcome to Yogyakarta with its ancient history and hoped that the profession could assist more Yogyakartans to become HIMs (Hatta 2014). Many of the local guests had not had the opportunity to visit the palace previously and thoroughly enjoyed the evening and the spectacular entertainment and surroundings.

On the second day, the morning plenary session started with the theme Application of technology and electronic health records. The first presentation was by Mr. Sjahjehan representing the WHO, who spoke on Medical records and Indonesian economic development - realistic steps towards the social and cultural advancement of the Indonesians. This was followed by local speakers on topics related to Indonesia’s strategies for health information systems. The next session dealt with Education and communication – health record/information management. I presented a paper on Educating Medical Record/Health Information Managers for the present and the future, which was followed by three other presentations from local HIMs on education. These papers were in Bahasa Indonesian.

The afternoon was divided into the same three streams as the previous day and mainly presented by local HIMs in their own language. One of the speakers, Gemala Hatta, gave an account of the Indonesian experience in conducting the ICD-10 Pilot Test. The ICD-10 Pilot Test was a joint collaboration between the WHO Family International Classifications Network Education Implementation Committee and IFHIMA, Indonesia being one of six countries that undertook the Pilot Test in November 2012. Gemala outlined both the benefits of the exercise and the particular difficulties that had been experienced by Indonesian coders, and provided feedback to the coding exam reviewers on the marking scheme.

The PORMIKI’s Silver Anniversary Jubilee celebrations began with dinner followed by speeches, traditional music with Indonesian actors and dancers. One was part of a traditional Hindu tale, Ramayana epic, another was a performance by several children, which although in their national language, I was able to follow and enjoy. This was followed by other traditional Indonesian dances. At the end,

HRH Princess Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Bendara and Gemala Hatta, the first President of PORMIKI, exchange gifts at the PORMIKI IFHIMA SEAR Gala Dinner at the Royal Palace

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CONFERENCE REPORT

I was asked to officially close the conference by striking the gong (a big round metal instrument) three times!

It is interesting to note that although we had had the celebration and closed the conference the previous night, we continued on the third day, which was dedicated to two specific streams – education and coding. The first stream, described as a ‘student’s corner’, was organised specifi-cally for students, with nearly 100 in attendance. They asked many questions, particularly about our programs and how these compared with the Indonesian Diploma. Many want to come to Australia to study for our Bachelor’s Degree, which they seem to think would be different from that offered in Indonesia.

The coding stream included an interesting discussion on the results of the ICD-10 Pilot Test, which had been under-taken by 105 Indonesian coders. Results of Pilot Test had not been as good as expected and participants were able to get valuable feedback as well as provide suggestions for considera-tion for future examinations.

On the fourth day we visited two hospitals and one College offering a health information management program. The hospitals were RSUP Sardjito and Rumah Sakit Bethesda and were very interesting. Computerised health information systems were slowly being developed and implemented in both hospitals. They reminded me of many I have visited over the years in both developed and developing countries. The College, STIKES Jenderal Ahmad Yani Yogyakarta, was new and quite impressive, with a health information management program, Program Studi Rekam Medis (Medical Record) dan (and) Informasi Kesehatan (Health Information), one of 38 in Indonesia, which could have equalled one of ours prior to the introduction of our Bachelor’s Degree.

To hold a medical record and health information position in a health service facility in Indonesia, each PORMIKI

Phyllis J. Watson, AM, MSc (NY), DHSc (honoris causa)Professor email: watsonpj@bigpond.net.au

member must have a Certificate of Competency and Working Permission Letter (SIK) as written evidence of their compe-tency for the position. The Professional Standard of Medical Record and Health Information is a boundary of minimal compe-tency regulated by the professional organisation that ‘must be mastered by the professional to do a medical record and health information job professionally’ (Siswati 2014).

Given the need to postpone and rearrange speakers, exhibitors, entertainers and the venue plus hospital visits, the PORMIKI Conference Committee did an outstanding job. They provided International Conference Proceedings (in English), which included most abstracts and some full papers, and participants also received a calico ‘satchel’ with printed notepads as well as pens and other interesting bits and pieces, all prepared for the earlier date. It was a pity that so many participants who had originally registered for the conference could not attend. However, the spirit of PORMIKI members was not dampened, and I salute them. I was well looked after and thoroughly entertained and feel honoured to have been able to attend and be part of their Silver Anniversary celebra-tions.

ReferencesHatta, G. (2014). Report of 25th PORMIKI & 3rd IFHIMA SEAR Conference.

March 2014 (unpublished).Siswati (2014). Review of Professional Standards. International Conference

Proceedings, 25th PORMIKI & 3rd IFHIMA SEAR Conference, March 2014.