Narelle Portakiewicz: Chief Health Information Manager, SA Health.

In the beginning Originally from Country Victoria, I was very pleased to secure a position in my home town as Deputy Health Information Manager (HIM) six months prior to graduating, with the proviso that I passed my final exams! I started in the position only a few days after my final exam and was ready to join the ‘real world’ of fulltime employment. In this position, I was responsible for assisting in the management of medical records, clinical coding, clerical staff in emergency and allied health, as well as providing regional health information management services to smaller hospitals. After four weeks in the job, the Chief HIM went on holidays for six weeks so all of a sudden I was a 21-year-old acting Chief HIM, managing the same staff that had supervised my professional placement only 12 months earlier. This is a situation with which I am sure many HIMs are familiar. Being thrown in at the deep end is certainly an effective way to learn a lot in a short period of time!