Doha: Health care students at Qatar University (QU) colleges of Health Sciences (CHS), Medicine (CMED) and Pharmacy (CPH) were joined by their peers from University of Calgary in Qatar (UCQ), College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) and Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar (WCM-Q) at the 3rd Annual Interprofessional Education (IPE) Forum which was recently held at QU Research Complex.
The theme of the event was ‘The Third Annual IPE Forum for Healthcare Students’ and it was organised by the Interprofessional Education Student Association (IPE-SA). It was designed to engage students from various health care disciplines in inter professional workshops as well as best poster and oral presentation competitions. The event was attended by QU VP for Medical and Health Sciences and CMED Dean Dr Egon Toft, CPH Dean Dr Mohammad Diab, and CHS Dean and QU Biomedical Research Centre Director Prof Asma Al Thani, as well as students and faculty from all the participating institutions.
Keynote speakers senior students Samer Haithem Ali (CMED), Shahd Hamzeh Shaar (CPH), Khadiga Abdulrashid (CHS), Reem Saeed (UCQ) and Abdallah Tom (WCM-Q) shared their experiences from a professional perspective and elaborated on the importance of collaborative work.
The program agenda featured six oral presentations delivered by Sara Abdulrhim, Rana Saleh and Ikram Zoukh from CPH, Tina Bharani and Ahmed Saleh from WCM-Q, and Aya Albahri, Pratiwi Hastania, ElTahir ElHassan, Ayat Kadhi, Mahmood Khan, Fathima Mohammed and Hala Ibrahim Gamaly from UCQ. The presentations covered two categories -- research and perspective.
Also on the program was a poster session which included 21 posters that were judged by a panel of judges from CHS, CMED, CPH, UCQ, CNA-Q and WCM-Q.
Dr Egon Toft said: “Through the Interprofessional Education sessions, training synergies across health care majors are being created, equipping learners with the team-based collaborative skills and emphasising interactive learning. QU Health is proud to take part in these sessions that prepare the students to the challenges of the inter professional practice.”
CPH Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Chair of the Interprofessional Education Committee Dr Alla El-Awaisi said: “Since the association was founded in 2014, the annual forum has provided an opportunity for health care students in Qatar, from different institutions and at various levels, to learn with, from and about each other outside of their classrooms. In addition to focusing on research, we added the element of the different health care perspectives to oral and poster presentations. This addition surpassed all expectations with excellent presentation and fruitful discussion amongst health care students. I am very optimistic on the future of collaborative practice in Qatar and sure that our students will be driver for positive change in the health care sector”.
