Inequity abounds - An analysis of health library support for Australian medical training programs.

Abstract

Health libraries play a critical role in supporting medical training in Australia. Accreditation is an important means of ensuring a program of study and the education provider suitably equips trainees with the knowledge, skills and professional attributes necessary to practise in the profession. This study identifies a lack of consistency and specificity in Australian medical colleges accreditation requirements as they pertain to health libraries. Accreditation standards from 52 medical colleges and associations supporting Australian medical training programs were reviewed. Information extracted from accreditation documents was entered into a working text spreadsheet. Data was organised under three key categories; Collections, Services and Space. Additional categories were added to record the use of the noun Library and expectations for journal access. The results of the content analysis highlight a lack of consistency in accreditation providers' expectations for library collections, services and spaces. Most providers (87% n=45) required host organisations to provide access to collections. Requirements for library space were mandated by 54% of providers (n=28). Less than 50% of providers (n=22) specified library services as requirements. This analysis highlights the role of health libraries in supporting medical education, research and evidence-based practice. It also reinforces the need for improved specificity, consistency and clarity in accreditation requirements for health libraries in post-graduate medical training. The recommended benchmark accreditation standard developed in this study is a step toward addressing these issues and ensuring equity of access to library services and facilities for all medical trainees in Australia. To deliver responsive community care to patients, trainees must have equity of access to health library support and resources in their postgraduate education regardless of their speciality or location of traineeship. This is currently not the case. To make this sustainable, a benchmark recommendation has been developed for training providers that will ensure consistency of access to high-quality library collections, services and spaces for all medical trainees. This is the first study of its kind in Australia and demonstrates that medical colleges are not currently ensuring equity of access to library services, facilities and qualified library professionals for all medical trainees.