Digital health and professional identity in Australian health libraries: Evidence from the 2018 Australian Health Information Workforce Census

Objective: This research aimed to examine the characteristics of the current health libraryprofessional workforce in Australia. The study also sought to explore the areas of health librarycompetency domains and job functions that may reflect progress toward a specialized digitalhealth information capability.Methods: Health librarians’ responses to the May 2018 Australian Health InformationWorkforce Census were analysed and compared with results obtained in earlier census counts.The health librarian characteristics were also compared with other health informationoccupations included in the Census.Results: There were 238 usable health librarian responses. These indicate that the healthlibrarian workforce continues to be a comparatively mature population, with substantialexperience, increasing involvement in data- and technology-intensive functions, high levels ofprofessional association membership, and participation in continuing education activities.Notably there are emerging role titles and job functions which point to a greater digital healthfocus in the changing work realm.Conclusion: The health librarian workforce has adapted its skills, in line with the increaseddigital emphasis in health information work. However, as with other health informationoccupational groups, it is possible that health system planners and funders are not aware oflibrarians’ current functions and skills. This mature workforce may undergo significant attritionand consequent loss of expertise in the next decade. Continued advocacy and strategic planningaround these factors with workforce, healthcare quality, and educational organizations will berequired

Health Informatics and E-health Curriculum for Clinical Health Profession Degrees

This article is published online with Open Access by IOS Press and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License.The project reported in this paper models a new approach to making health informatics and e-health education widely available to students in a range of Australian clinical health profession degrees. The development of a Masters level subject uses design-based research to apply educational quality assurance practices which are consistent with university qualification frameworks, and with clinical health profession education standards; at the same time it gives recognition to health informatics as a specialised profession in its own right. The paper presents details of (a) design with reference to the Australian Qualifications Framework and CHIA competencies, (b) peer review within a three-university teaching team, (c) external review by experts from the professions, (d) cross-institutional interprofessional online learning, (e) methods for evaluating student learning experiences and outcomes, and (f) mechanisms for making the curriculum openly available to interested parties. The project has sought and found demand among clinical health professionals for formal health informatics and e-health education that is designed for them. It has helped the educators and organisations involved to understand the need for nuanced and complementary health informatics educational offerings in Australian universities. These insights may aid in further efforts to address substantive and systemic challenges that clinical informatics faces in Australia

Ehealth education for future clinical health professionals: An integrated analysis of Australian expectations and challenges

Australia is experiencing challenges in its health workforce profile to embrace reforms based on ehealth. Although there is much literature on the importance of ehealth education, our study shows that ehealth education for entry-level clinicians is not meeting the demands for a technologically savvy clinical health workforce. This poster reports on a nationally funded project. Support for this project has been provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching, which examines ehealth education for the future clinical workforce in Australia. It discusses 3 key components: the current state of teaching, learning and assessment of ehealth education in health profession degrees in Australia; inclusion of ehealth competencies in accreditation guidelines of health profession degrees and ehealth skills and competencies in job descriptions for the future Australian clinical workforce. It is based on a systems view methodology that these three components are interrelated and influence the development of an ehealth capable health workforce. Results highlight that further research and development across the health workforce is needed before the education of future clinical health professionals can keep pace with the changes that ehealth is bringing to the Australian healthcare system

The development of a classification system for maternity models of care

© The Author(s) 2016. Background: A lack of standard terminology or means to identify and define models of maternity care in Australia has prevented accurate evaluations of outcomes for mothers and babies in different models of maternity care. Objective: As part of the Commonwealth-funded National Maternity Data Development Project, a classification system was developed utilising a data set specification that defines characteristics of models of maternity care. Method: The Maternity Care Classification System or MaCCS was developed using a participatory action research design that built upon the published and grey literature. Results: The study identified the characteristics that differentiate models of care and classifies models into eleven different Major Model Categories. Conclusion: The MaCCS will enable individual health services, local health districts (networks), jurisdictional and national health authorities to make better informed decisions for planning, policy development and delivery of maternity services in Australia

Advancing Ehealth Education for the Clinical Health Professions

This is the final report of a project that aimed to encourage and support program coordinators and directors of Australian undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs in all allied health, nursing and medical professions to address the need for Ehealth education for entry-level clinical health professionals