New Zealand’s Health Information Workforce: Census Summary Report 2019

Karen Day

and

Rebecca Grainger

Publisher’s Cataloguing-in-publication dataDay, K., and Grainger, R. 2019. New Zealand’s Health Information Workforce: Census Summary Report. University of Auckland: New Zealand.

ISBN 978-0-473-48767-6Licensor: University of Auckland

The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions made by the following individuals and organisations:

Kerryn Butler-Henderson and Kathleen Gray from the Universities of Tasmania and Melbourne respectively, who developed the Australian census. Karen Day and Rebecca Grainger customised for use in New Zealand in collaboration with Butler-Henderson and Gray. Their assistance in customising the census and in analysing the data has been invaluable.

Melanie Oakes, exchange student between the Universities of Bremen and Auckland, who assisted with the customisation of the census for New Zealand and development of the survey in Qualtrics.

Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ), for their support in distributing the census.

Senior personnel in District Health Boards, Primary Health Organisations, NGOs, Colleges and other organisations that assisted in the distribution of the census.

Participants who completed the census.

Acknowledgements

Introduction 1

Workforce geographics 2

Workforce demographics 5

Employment location 7

Employment roles 11

Employment experience 14

Tertiary education and continuing development 16

Professional associations 18

More information 19

Contents

This report is a summary of key findings from the first New Zealand Health Information WorkforceCensus, conducted in December 2018. It was customized for New Zealand from the AustralianHealth Information Workforce Census.

The health system is increasingly reliant on the health information workforce, in order to extractvalue from growing volumes of electronic health data and to realise a range of potential benefitsfrom large investments in digital health. The New Zealand Census is a landmark in advancing theunderstanding of a section of the health workforce that often is overlooked in New Zealand.

The aim of the New Zealand Health Information Workforce Census is to quantify and qualify the NewZealand Health information Workforce (HIW), specifically to delineate and count the workforce,consider the future configuration of workforce, identify health information workforce shortfalls, andidentify current health information training and career pathways.

The Census target population is anyone who self-identifies as part of the health informationworkforce, and who is working for or with an organisation that operates in New Zealand. Thisincludes anyone who works (including working as a volunteer or actively seeking work) in a rolewhere the primary function is related to developing, maintaining, or governing the systems for themanagement of health data, health information, or health knowledge. A participant in the Censusshould work for or with an organisation that operates in New Zealand, and in a role that relates toits New Zealand operations, and in a role related to the health sector.

454 participant responses are included in the analysis that is presented in this summary report.Since there is no known denominator for the New Zealand health information workforce, we areunable to say what percentage of the workforce responded to the Census.

The Census instrument and processes have been developed through rigorous and consultativemethods. The Census will run regularly in Australia and New Zealand and will extend to othercountries, in coming years. Detailed analysis of the data is under way by the principal investigators,and raw data are available for others to analyse. Further information is available at the end of thissummary report.

1

Introduction

Country of birthWorkforce geographics

61%individuals

born in New Zealand

2

Residential region

3

30%

0.7%

13%

2%

0.9%

15.9%

2.9%

2.9%

4.4%

1.32%

8.2%

0.9%

3.3%

0.7%

13%

Citizenship status

4

New Zealand citizen82%

Other18%

NZ permanent resident

83%

NZ temporary resident - student

2%

NZ temporary resident - work

12%

NZ temporary resident - other

2%Not NZ citizen or

resident1%

RESIDENCECitizenship

Residence

Gender and disabilityWorkforce demographics

5

Female60.4%

Gender diverse0.2%

Male39.4%

6.6% disability or

health condition that

limits participation in activities

Age group and ethnicity

3.1% Maori

1.6% Pacific Island

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 - 59 60 - 69 70 - 79

6

0.3%

32.7% 3.3%

2.7%0.3%

4.6%2.1%

3.0%10.0%

14.2%

0.9%0.3%

15.2%

7.9%

1.5%

7

Employment location

No-one indicated that they

work in multiple regions

Type of organisation

8

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Public

Private

Public/Private partnership

Not for Profit

Employment conditions

9

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Permanent

Contract

Casual

Self-employed

11.3%actively seeking work in health

information

Weekly remuneration

34.834.0

Average weekly paid vs actual hours

working in current main health

information role

10

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%

$1-$199

$200-$299

$300-$399

$400-$599

$600-$799

$800-$999

$1000-$1,249

$1,250-$1,499

$1,500-$1,999

$2,000-$2,499

$2,500-$2,999

$3,000-$3,499

$3,500-$3,999

$4,000-$4,999

$5,000 or more

Employment roles

2%individuals

are currently

not working in health

67%work only in a health

information role22%

individuals work in both

a health information

role and another

health role

11

Occupational speciality

12

Occupational category

32%are currently registered as

health practitioners under the Health

Practitioners’ Competence

Assurance Act of 2003

13

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Technican or Trades Worker

Clerical or Administrative Worker

Manager

Professional

Years in current roleEmployment experience

14

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

<5 years 5 to 9 years 10 to 14 years 15 to 19 years 20 to 24 years 25 to 29 years > 29 yars

7.9average

number of years working in current role

Time planned to remain in workforce

11.5average number of years working

in the New Zealand health

information workforce

< 5 years

5 to 10 years

11 to 14 years15 to 20

years> 20 years

Unsure

15

Tertiary education and continuing development

6.7% individuals do

not hold a tertiary

qualification

Certificate

Bachelor Honours

Bachelor degree

Associate degree

Diploma

Graduate Cert/Dipl

Master degree

Doctorate

8.6% 23.2%0.5%7.9%

6.3%22.5%16.0%6.3%

Highest qualification related to health information

16

Professional development

11.8% did not

participate in professional

development in the last 12

months

Work based learning32.4%

Professional activity

32%

Self-directed learning

25%

Formal education4%

17

Member of health information professional or industry

association

18Note: Some individuals will have multiple memberships

Professional association

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20%

Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ)

Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa

NZHIT (New Zealand Health IT)

IT professionals New Zealand

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society…

Australasian College of Health Informatics (ACHI)

Health Information Management Association of Australia…

Public Health Association of New Zealand

Medical Technology Association of NZ (MTANZ)

Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA)

New Zealand Analytics Forum

New Zealand College of Health Services Management (NZCHSM)

NZ Private surgical Hospitals association Inc

New Zealand Institute of Health Management (NZIHM)

Clinical Coders' Society of Australia (CCSA)

43.4% individuals do not belong to

any professional or industry association

Health professional registration

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

No registration

Anaesthetic Technology

Chiropractic

Dental practitioner (all registered areas

Dietetics

Medical Laboratory Science

Medical Radiation Technology

Medicine

Midwifery

Nursing

Occupational Therapy

Optometry and optical dispensing

Osteopathy

Pharmacy

Physiotherapy

Podiatry

Psychology

Psychotherapy

19

More information

Follow us on Twitter @hiw_nz

Find out more about the project on our website at https://hiwcensusnz.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/

To request access to data:www.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/1090776/Data-Management-and-Access-Policy-v1_0.pdf

How the census was designedButler-Henderson K, Gray K, Greenfield D, Low S, Gilbert C, Ritchie A, Trujillo M, Bennett V, Brophy J, & Schaper LK 2017, The development of a national census of the health information workforce: expert panel recommendations, Stud Health Technol Inform, 239: 8-13, doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-783-2-8.

20