REBLs...with a cause SIG

"REBLs...with a cause" is the inaugural Special Interest Group of Health Libraries Australia. It was launched at the HLA Information Rx Symposium in February 2007. REBLs is a pseudo acronym for Rehabilitation Evidence Based Librarians. There are about 25 members nationally and 1 from the USA.

Our first project: "REBLs...with a cause: a catalyst for evidence based collection development" will be presented at the International Congress of Medical Librarianship
Positioning the Profession, 31 Aug - 4 Sept 2009, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, http://www.icml2009.com

The REBLs have developed an evidence base for collection development built on consensus agreement between expert rehabilitation specialists and librarians. This is relevant for trainee rehabilitation registrars who rotate to different hospitals every six months.

These Lists were endorsed by the Chairs of all the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine Special Interest Groups on 15th June 2009 and ratified by the AFRM Education Committee on 26th June 2009.

Outcomes:

• Lists of core and recommended books, journals and websites for the main specialties for trainee rehabilitation registrars - Rehabilitation, Cardiac, Pain, Paediatrics, Older People, Musculoskeletal, Neurological, Occupational, Spinal, Traumatic Brain Injury, Prosthetics / Orthotics, and Developmental Disability
• A commitment to the promotion, utilization and maintenance of the list by the AFRM and REBLs
• Encouraging REBLs to put this evidence into practice within their collection development strategies
• Contribution to the resources section of the accreditation assessment by the Australian Medical Council (which assesses public accountability for the hospitals which support rehabilitation trainees)
• A higher level of accountability within the Australian Council of Healthcare Standards (ACHS) facility accreditation process by providing a mechanism for benchmarking collections nationally

Benefits:
Assurance that trainees have physical and/or electronic access to relevant, recommended resources; assistance with benchmarking and accreditation as a teaching hospital for AFRM; training and mentoring for the REBLs.

Future:
The creation of the collection benchmarking tool, that following evaluation planned for late 2009, should provide a template for other disciplines and client groups (e.g. aged care registrar trainees, nursing and allied health).

Convenor
Veronica Delafosse
Librarian
Health Sciences Library, Caulfield Hospital, Victoria
v.delafosse@cgmc.org.au