Message from the Chair of HiNZ-NMI
Welcome to the next edition of the HiNZ-NMI newsletter!
Time is running out to register for the HiNZ eHealth workshop at Digital Health Week!
This workshop is going to be full with insights about informatics leadership, the current digital health context in NZ and loads more. Check out the agenda here and register here. We would love to see you. It is a fabulous time also for networking - this is where I first formed a number of working and research relationships, met my now mentor, and have made friends. Also, we will be holding our AGM in the middle of the day. We would love to have you come on board our exec for 2024.
See you all soon!
Emma Collins (@emma.collins)
Chair of HiNZ Nursing & Midwifery Informatics Special Interest Group (HiNZ-NMI)
HiNZ-NMI Updates and News
We need you!!!
The HiNZ NMI Executive has its Annual General Meeting on the 28th November at 12pm at the NMI workshop as part of Digital Health Week, Hamilton.
There are a number of executive positions available and we are keen to have you involved.
What you would need to be able to do:
- Attend meetings online, every 6 weeks
- Attend one face-to-face meeting a year (our annual planning day)
- Contribute regularly to the newsletter and take responsibility for it once a year
- Contribute to discussions and dialogue with members via the eHealth Forum
- Contribute to other projects in the executive workplan when able.
If you have any questions, or to register your interest, please contact @emma.collins.
My journey to digital health nurse
I am a Registered Nurse and Digital Business Analyst at Whānau Āwhina Plunket.
I worked for the organisation as a Plunket Nurse for 16 years prior to transitioning to the role of Digital Business Analyst in early 2023. In my nursing role, I achieved PDRP at Expert level based around my practice, with expert specialty of health informatics, documentation, and use of ePHR (Plunket Electronic Health Record). I have always had a strong interest in the technology side of healthcare, systems to improve care delivery and efficiency, as well as data, health informatics and understanding things well to get it right.
I took every opportunity to be involved with projects for developments in the digital space, and facilitated training locally and nationally, for clinical staff with use of our systems.
At the time, there was no clear pathway within my organisation for learning in the digital health space. For professional development, I completed some of the online health informatics learning courses that are recommended on the HINZ website. These were either free or very low cost (https://www.hinz.org.nz/page/OnlineCourses). They are not formal qualifications, but solidified my knowledge and interest to know I was heading in the right direction.
In late 2022, I applied to HINZ for a scholarship to attend the Health Informatics NZ conference in Rotorua and was successful. It was such an incredible experience – I knew I wanted to pursue a full-time position in the digital health space. When my current role became available, I was able to put in an application based on the professional development, experience and work I had done in the digital health space. I was able to incorporate the skills that make nurses successful, such as communication and organisational planning skills.
My role as Digital Business Analyst involves analysis and planning of improvements for systems and processes within Whānau Āwhina Plunket, largely in the digital space. I am able to research current practice, best practice guidelines and review our data to make changes within our systems to support clinical documentation, workflow and workload management. I am planning to maintain my APC, even though this role is not front-facing. I have been able to do further training, specific to my role, as well as join relevant HINZ webinars to connect with others in the wider digital health field. I’m looking forward to attending the HINZ conference again this year as a business analyst, and next year I hope to study a Postgraduate Certificate in Health Sciences in Digital Health.
I am loving my new role. It is the intersection of my passion for nursing and the work we do at Whānau Āwhina Plunket, along with my interest in digital systems and processes. I have a constant drive to learn more, so I can increase my knowledge and the impact of the work I do.
@Juliet
RN, Digital Business Analyst
Whānau Āwhina Plunket
Some interesting watching…
Kia Ora e hoa! Ordinarily I’d be excited about summer fast approaching since it’s been two years since we last saw it, but no, it’s conference time! 4 WEEKS TO GO until we all gather together in Hamilton. Now, one person I remember from last year’s conference is Kate Ebrill from CSIRO, HL7 Australia board member. Kate did not fail to disappoint, donned with her fabulous cherry earrings and infectious smile, she manages to make FHIR interoperability exciting for everyone who tuned in to HiNZ’s latest e-health Webinar.
HL7® or FHIR® (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), is a standard that defines how healthcare information can be exchanged between different computer systems regardless of how it is stored in those systems. It allows healthcare information, including clinical and administrative data, to be available securely to those who have a need to access it, and to those who have the right to do so for the benefit of a patient receiving care. With this in mind, one can appreciate that this is a critical piece of work for the industry and modestly put by product owner, Grahame Grieve as, “just a simple bit of kiwi ingenuity”. The final thing I will say about this webinar is that it showcases the power of community, as Grahame went with an open licence, membership, and media channels. You can view this webinar here.
If you are starting out in Health Informatics, then August’s Webinar titled “Addressing pressures on the health system”, is for you; particularly so, for Nurses, Midwives, Allied Health and kaimahi working in our communities. Karen Day’s opening offers a stark reminder, of the ‘crisis-not-a-crisis’ in healthcare globally; aging population, scarce workforce, climate change, it’s enough to make you hide under you duvet. It’s no surprise therefore that we are turning to Health Tech and Data & Digital to be the superhero’s of healthcare provision. Speaking of superhero’s, I didn’t realize that Florence Nightingale was in fact the first Nurse Informatician! Thanks Karen for sharing your wisdom, and the rest of the panel for sharing insights and hope that all is not lost in this crazy world. You can view this webinar here.
Lastly, I would like to introduce you to an old webinar from 2022. Know that some webinars are free to watch, whilst other require HiNZ membership. “Tackling your health data”, caught my interest because it’s my area of interest. For the last three years I’ve worked with health data that’s created by our amazing workforce and translated into alpha-numeric codes by our equally talented clinical coders. I refer to inpatient health data, and according to the MOH this accounts for around 30% of the health data we generate overall. Alan Hesketh, of Ecosystems, talks about kiwis trusting their health data more than our colleagues across the ditch. Something I find very interesting because all the clinicians I speak to tell me they don’t trust the Health Round Table (HRT) data at all. Ironically, the data from the HRT actually starts with clinical documentation that is generated by clinicians (including midwives, nurses, Allied Health)! How is that for irony? This brings me back to the HiNZ conference, a shameless plug to come and listen to my talk on Thursday about how health data is generated, how AI and EHRs will not solve the many issues that in fact diminish the reliable health data that we desperately need. You can view this webinar here.
I hope to see you at Tuesday’s workshop, where you can be part of the NMI community, join the executive and meet some great people. This will be my 5th conference, and every year it never fails to deliver. Check out all the https://www.hinz.org.nz/ for access to the whole webcast library.
2023 CiLN Award finalists
This year the three finalists for the Clinical Informatics Leadership award are two nurses and allied health. Vote for your ‘everyday’ here, and read their profiles.
The winner is announced at Digital Health Week.
This award is proudly sponsored by Accenture.
New publications from the Nursing and Midwifery Community of Practice
Latest newsletter from IMIA NI
Newsletter October 2023.pdf (359.0 KB)
Interesting article from Digital Health UK
Hauora Research Publication
@roseanne.sadd - HiNZ NMI exec member
Learning & Development
Podcast:
Upcoming Events
National Events
If you are interested in getting together (most events are in-person!) with others in the health informatics space, please do consider attending the following:
Digital Health Week: 27-30 November 2023, Claudelands, Hamilton
International events
(as noted from International Medical Informatics Association: Nursing Informatics Special Interest Group)
- MedInfo24 is being held in Manchester, UK. The theme is ‘Applied nursing informatics: Innovations in the practice of nursing informatics’. The call for submissions is live!
Please let us know if you have any other news or events to share as a reply to this.
About HiNZ-NMI
The HiNZ nursing & midwifery informatics special interest group (HiNZ-NMI) supports the development of nursing informatics in New Zealand. HiNZ-NMI meets on the eHealth Forum and publishes a free eNewsletter with digital health updates of relevance to nurses.
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What is nursing informatics?
Nursing Informatics science and practice integrates nursing, its information and knowledge and their management with information and communication technologies to promote the health of people, families and communities world-wide.