Key challenges for the rehabilitation workforce include having well-regulated professions, academic programs that meet international standards, and finding sufficient opportunities for continued professional development. The International Rehabilitation Education and Training Toolkit (IRETT) contains tools that aim to contribute to efforts in overcoming these challenges.
The Academic Program Reflection Tool (APRT) guides training institutions to create or critically review and update their rehabilitation programs; the Professional Regulation Reflection Tool (PRRT) assists professional associations in developing effective strategies for the regulation of rehabilitation professions; and the Clinical Skills Training Tool (CSTT) supports stakeholders to develop and deliver training activities for the development of improved knowledge and skills among service providers. These tools make up the IRETT.
Each of the three tools contains comprehensive workbooks to guide the process with accompanying worksheets that are centered around a common “Plan,” “Do,” “Assess,” “Adjust” reflective process. The tools can be used independently or with support from an IRETT mentor.
A defining feature of the IRETT tools is that they can be adopted by anyone, adapted to any context, and are focused on creating opportunities for sustainability and scale. These tools are expected to help strengthen rehabilitation education, training, and regulation, which in turn should help to strengthen rehabilitation service quality and therefore client outcomes.
Digital resources available to support the use of the IRETT include the Rehabilitation Resource Repository, which provides an accessible way to find rehabilitation-related resources; the ReLAB-HS portfolio of online courses hosted on Plus; and the Rehabilitation Community Platform, which provides opportunities for networking, collaboration, and coordination of rehabilitation initiatives.
The Academic Program Reflection Tool (APRT) is a structured guide to support the review of academic programs for rehabilitation professions. The purpose of the tool is to use a reflective review process to identify opportunities to create meaningful change to strengthen academic programs. It is targeted at academic institutions that are developing new entry-level rehabilitation programs, as well as existing academic programs that are driven to strengthen their programs.
The Professional Regulation Reflection Tool (PRRT) helps to identify gaps in policy documents for the regulation of a profession. The aim is to support professional associations and regulatory bodies to develop new policy for regulation, as well as review existing strategy in a structured process. It is suitable for use by associations and regulatory bodies for strengthening the regulation of their profession. This tool can also be used interprofessionally when different associations decide to pursue a shared vision.
The Clinical Skills Training Tool (CSTT) is a set of resources that can be used to create training programs for developing clinical knowledge and skills. The purpose of the tool is to guide the development and delivery of continuing education and professional development activities. It can be used by clinics to deliver in-service training, professional associations to provide professional development programs, or individuals to share their knowledge and train other professionals.
This site has been developed to collate open publications and resources that are relevant to rehabilitation professionals and other rehabilitation-related health systems stakeholders across the globe. With these resources accessible in one place, it is easy to discover and share information to support the integration of rehabilitation into health systems.
The ReLAB-HS portfolio of online courses has been specifically developed to respond to the needs of rehabilitation professionals in low- and middle-income countries. Courses can be used to fill gaps in academic teaching capacity, for continued professional development activities, and for in-service training of staff. Hosted on Plus, they are available for free to all in low- and middle-income countries.
The Rehabilitation Community is an online community where you can meet, connect, and exchange information with rehabilitation professionals and stakeholders from across the globe. It can easily be used by any group that needs a place to collaborate and coordinate on rehabilitation-related projects and activities. It is being widely used for ReLAB-HS activities in Uganda and Pakistan.