Staff profile

Mr Darren Freestone BHlthInfoManagt(Hons), CHIM

Associate Lecturer

Faculty of Health Sciences

School of Public Health and Human Biosciences
Department of Health Information Management

HS1.114, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

Bachelor of Health Information Management with Honours

Membership of professional associations

Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA)

Area of study

Health Information Management

Brief profile

Darren is a Health Information Manager (HIM) who commenced at La Trobe in 2009. He co-ordinates a number of core subjects in the HIM courses. Topics covered in these subjects include Clinical Information Systems, Health Data Collection and Analysis, Health System Financing and Activity Based Funding, and Project Management. Darren is also the year co-ordinator for all final year students in both the combined Bachelor of Health Sciences / Master of Health Information Management course and the Graduate-entry Master of Health Information Management course. He is also the La Trobe University representative on the HIMAA (Health Information Management Association of Australia) Victorian Branchs' Executive Committee. Prior to becoming a HIM he spent 10 years in the data communications industry working in product development and design, and quality control.

As a HIM he has a keen interest in the systems for the collection and utilisation of health related data, data quality assurance and data governance. He has conducted research on the quality of geocoding for the classification of place of occurence for mortality cases, the results of which will begin to be published during the course of 2012. Recently, he also began a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education and is currently conducting a research project into the best methods by which core HIM subjects (i.e. Health Data Collections and Reporting, Activity Based Funding and Clinical Costing) can be taught; either online or blended modes (i.e. mix of online and face-to-face). This research will assist in developing strategies to meet the growing Health Information workforce needs currently being experienced nationally.

Teaching units

HIM4AHA - Health Data Analysis A; HIM3HMB - Health Information Management B; HIM3PPA - Health Information Professional Practice A; HIM5PPB - Health Information Professional Practice B; HIM5HSI - Health Systems Implementation.

Recent publications

Reviewed Articles:

  • Freestone, D., Williamson, D., & Wollersheim, D. (2012). Geocoding coronial data: tools and techniques to improve data quality. Health Information Management Journal 41 (3): 4-12

 

Published Reports:

  • Freestone, D (2012). Report on Hospital Patient Costing Conference 2011. Brisbane, 24-25 March. HIM-Interchange 2 (2): 24. 
  • Freestone, D (2012). Report on Second Annual Hospital Patient Costing Conference 2012. Brisbane, 29-30 March. HIM-Interchange 2 (2): 25.
  • Freestone, D (2010). Report on Connecting Healthcare 2010: integrating healthcare to improve patient information flow, data quality, and consolidate health records. Sydney, 9-10 February. Health Information Management Journal 39(2): 58-60.