The diversity of Health The diversity of Health Information Management Information Management

skills – a personal skills – a personal experienceexperience

Vicki BennettVicki BennettManagerManager

Information Strategy Section Information Strategy Section Information Service Branch Information Service Branch

Health Insurance CommissionHealth Insurance Commission

What to study?What to study?MedicineMedicine

Physiotherapy/Occupational TherapyPhysiotherapy/Occupational Therapy

Accounting – a false start!Accounting – a false start!

Cumberland College Open Day….Cumberland College Open Day….

Health Information ManagementHealth Information Management Lots of jobsLots of jobs Good moneyGood money Part-time workPart-time work Course contentCourse content

When I graduated…When I graduated…

Broad work experienceBroad work experience

Public and Private HospitalsPublic and Private Hospitals HIM, coder, data manager, auditorHIM, coder, data manager, auditor

City and Country HospitalsCity and Country Hospitals

A Veterans HospitalA Veterans Hospital

University teaching ITUniversity teaching IT

NCCH – databases and coder trainingNCCH – databases and coder training

International consultingInternational consulting

And mother of 4!And mother of 4!

Health Insurance CommissionHealth Insurance Commission

Medicare, PBS, Immunisation Register, Medicare, PBS, Immunisation Register, Organ Donor, etcOrgan Donor, etc

Title - Manager, Health Information Title - Manager, Health Information Section, Health Informatics BranchSection, Health Informatics Branch

HIM-free zone!HIM-free zone!

Moulding of role to suite my skillsMoulding of role to suite my skills

Vision – “Improving Australia’s health Vision – “Improving Australia’s health through payments and information”through payments and information”

My RoleMy Role

Represent HIC on HDSC, SIMC and in Represent HIC on HDSC, SIMC and in other national forumsother national forums

Assist researchers, etc to use HIC data to Assist researchers, etc to use HIC data to improve health outcomesimprove health outcomes

Protect the privacy of individuals while Protect the privacy of individuals while delivering the visiondelivering the vision

Ensure good information management Ensure good information management principles are put in placeprinciples are put in place

The HIM ‘Tool Kit’The HIM ‘Tool Kit’

All HIM’s have these skillAll HIM’s have these skill

Our Uni courses teach themOur Uni courses teach them

Our experiences provide fertile training Our experiences provide fertile training grounds to sharpen our skillsgrounds to sharpen our skills

Self-belief is essential. We are often our Self-belief is essential. We are often our own worst enemy!own worst enemy!

Clinical KnowledgeClinical Knowledge

Medical TerminologyMedical Terminology

Medical ScienceMedical Science

Healthcare delivery modelsHealthcare delivery models

Healthcare ‘politics’Healthcare ‘politics’

Management SkillManagement Skill

Large unqualified teamsLarge unqualified teams

Shift workers/Part-timeShift workers/Part-time

Mature workforce – IT issuesMature workforce – IT issues

Poor work conditions – under valuedPoor work conditions – under valued

Often little back-upOften little back-up

Decision makers with responsibilityDecision makers with responsibility

Strategic thinking - seeing the big pictureStrategic thinking - seeing the big picture

Communication SkillsCommunication Skills

Written skills to present a caseWritten skills to present a case

Negotiate to achieve mutual benefitNegotiate to achieve mutual benefit

Adapt communication to suit audience:Adapt communication to suit audience: Clerical staff – need instructionClerical staff – need instruction Doctors – need coaxingDoctors – need coaxing Management – need informationManagement – need information Patients – need understandingPatients – need understanding

IT skills and knowledgeIT skills and knowledge

Basic desktop skillsBasic desktop skills

Systems analysis and designSystems analysis and design

SQL – Select/From/WhereSQL – Select/From/Where

Logical problem solvingLogical problem solving

Data warehousing/relational databasesData warehousing/relational databases

Web environmentsWeb environments

Research SkillsResearch Skills

A University degree!A University degree!

Basic numeracyBasic numeracy

Research methodologyResearch methodology

EpidemiologyEpidemiology

Health Information Data SourcesHealth Information Data Sources

Morbidity data storesMorbidity data stores

Cancer registersCancer registers

Other registers/notifiable diseasesOther registers/notifiable diseases

Private Hospitals Data BureauPrivate Hospitals Data Bureau

Mortality dataMortality data

Casemix dataCasemix data

National Health Data DictionaryNational Health Data Dictionary

Next…FijiNext…Fiji

What about you?What about you?

What skills have you developed through What skills have you developed through your many and varied experiences?your many and varied experiences?

How could you better use these How could you better use these improve health care delivery?improve health care delivery?

How will you change your next job How will you change your next job application to value your application to value your

HIM ‘tool kit’?HIM ‘tool kit’?