Work-integrated learning for health information management students: Lessons learned from literature, and experiences of supervisors and students on virtual or remote placements.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, health placements have required practical in-person learning, including placements completed by health information management (HIM) students. COVID-19 made in-person healthcare placements largely unviable. Alternative virtual/remote placements were required. AIMS: (1) Explore the experiences of virtual/remote placements for HIM students and their supervisors; (2) Compare these experiences to the literature on barriers and facilitators for virtual/remote placement and (3) Develop best practice guidelines for the delivery of virtual/remote placements for HIM students. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey asked final-year HIM placement students and their supervisors about their virtual/remote placement experiences in 2021. Survey findings were compared to 10 barriers and facilitators for remote/virtual placements identified in the literature. RESULTS: Students were challenged by autonomous virtual/remote placements but enjoyed their flexibility. A work schedule provides placement structure to students. The use of technology was embraced although unfamiliarity with video-conferencing software prior to placement was an issue for some students. The most common method of student-supervisor communication was email. However, students missed casual corridor conversations. The importance of maintaining a community of practice was reported in the literature and confirmed by students. Most students preferred undertaking a virtual/remote placement rather than delaying graduation. The majority of supervisors reported complete satisfaction with the placement students' performance. CONCLUSION: Virtual/remote placements were a viable option for HIM students when in-person placements were impossible. Students required a work-based schedule, appropriate information technology, a dedicated workspace, familiarity with communication technologies, good communication channels with their supervisors and a supportive 'community of practice'. HIM supervisors were satisfied with virtual/remote methods of placement delivery.

Workforce survey of Australian health information management graduates, 2017-2021: A 5-year follow-on study.

Background: Employment outcomes of La Trobe University's 2012-2016 health information manager (HIM) graduate cohort were reported previously. Objectives: To identify the 2017-2021 Australia-based, graduate HIMs' early career employment experiences; identify employment roles and destinations; investigate knowledge and skill sets utilised in professional performance; and compare outcomes with the previous study. Method: A cross-sectional design was utilised. An online survey elicited: demographic data, position-related details and knowledge-skills applied in the workplace. Inter- and intra-cohort comparisons were calculated. Results: Of contactable graduates, 75% (n = 150) completed the survey; 90% (n = 132) had held at least one profession-related position postgraduation; 51% gained employment before final examinations and 92% within 6 months. In their first role, 87% joined the public healthcare sector, 47% had worked in two or more positions and 12.3% in three or more positions. Categorisation of position titles showed that 40% had undertaken "health information management" roles, 14.9% "health classification," 16.6% "data management and analytics," 17.4% "health ICT" and 11.1% "other," roles. Almost two-thirds (64.1%) had utilised three or four of the four professional knowledge-skill domains. There was an increase, from the 2012 to 2016 cohort, in those undertaking "data management and analytics" and "health ICT" roles, and a decrease in "health classification" role uptake. Conclusion: Early-career HIMs have very high employability. They engage throughout health care, predominately in the public health sector. Their mobility reflects national workforce trends. The majority utilise all or most of the professional knowledge-skill domains studied at university.

An investigation of the status and maturity of hospitals' health information governance in Victoria, Australia.

BACKGROUND: Health information governance (IG) in Australian hospitals was hitherto unexplored. OBJECTIVES: To determine hospitals' health IG status and maturity in Victoria, Australia, identify drivers and barriers affecting IG adoption, examine electronic health data breach response plan usage and assess employees' electronic data breach awareness. METHOD: Mixed-methods descriptive study utilising an online survey of directors - clinical/health information services and chief health information managers (HIMs) in Victorian hospitals, ≥50 beds. RESULTS: Response rate: 42.9% (n = 36). Fifty percent (n = 17) of respondent-hospitals had an IG program. IG equally supported decision-making and risk identification and prevention. The greatest potential organisational damages from system disruption or failure were information loss (66.7%) and clinical risks (63.9%). HIMs in 15 (55.6%) hospitals had knowledge to monitor and detect electronic data breaches. Staff in 19 (70.4%) hospitals knew who to inform about a suspected breach. Most hospitals had mature health information-related IG practices, most (88.9%, n = 24) provided IG-related education, 77.8% (n = 21) regularly reviewed data breach response plans. The strongest IG drivers were privacy-security compliance and changes to data capture or documentation practices (82.8%, n = 24); the greatest barriers were implementation complexity (57.1%, n = 16) and cost (55.6%, n = 15). CONCLUSION: These baseline Australian data show 50% of respondent-hospitals had no formal health IG program. Privacy-security compliance, and audits, needed improvement; however, most hospitals had well-developed medical record/health information IG-relevant schedules, policies and practices. HIMs, the professionals most engaged in IG, required upskilling in electronic data breach detection.

Workforce survey of Australian graduate health information managers: Employability, employment, and knowledge and skills used in the workplace.

BACKGROUND: Employability, employment destinations and utilisation of knowledge-skill domains of new graduate health information managers (HIMs) have not been explored. OBJECTIVES: To capture the timing from course completion to employment and employment locations of a 5-year cohort of health information management graduates of La Trobe University, Australia, in 2017-2018; identify professional knowledge and skills used by the graduates in executing their roles; and map these to four domains of the health information management curriculum. METHOD: A mixed-methods descriptive study utilising a survey investigated early career pathways of new graduates of health information management courses from 2012 to 2016. Demographic data included age, year of graduation, lead time from course completion to employment, position title, number of positions held post-graduation and knowledge-skills used in the workplace. RESULTS: Eighty percent (n = 167) of graduates working in Australia with known contact details responded to the survey. Of these, 96.4% (n = 161) worked in at least one "health information management-related" position since graduation. Forty-five percent (n = 72) of graduates obtained a position before course completion, and over 94% (n = 150) were employed in the profession within 6 months of completion. Sixty percent (n = 97) of graduates had worked in two or more positions from 2012 to 2016. The large majority of new graduate HIMs (82.4%) were employed in the public healthcare sector in "health information management" (44%), or "health classification" (28.1%) roles. Most graduates (61%) had utilised at least three or four domains of professional knowledge-skills in the workplace. Whereas 16% (n = 26) of graduates used, solely, their health classification knowledge-skill set, almost 74% (n = 117) undertook some health classification-related activities. Only 16% (n = 26) of graduates were over 40 years of age, and there were no statistically significant differences between Bachelor and Master (Combined Degree Programs) graduates and Graduate-entry Master degree graduates in terms of lead time to employment, number of positions held, type of employing agency and professional knowledge-skills utilised in the workplace. CONCLUSION: Graduate HIMs have very high employability, demonstrate job mobility consistent with the national trends, are largely represented in the public sector but have presence throughout the healthcare system and utilise most or all of the specialised domains of professional knowledge and skills studied at university.