Doha: A symposium by Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) recently discussed the practice of medicine in international settings, challenges posed by language barriers and cultural sensitivities and strategies to mitigate the issues to provide the best possible healthcare for patients from a diverse range of backgrounds.
US experts visited WCMC-Q to speak at the country’s first cultural competence in healthcare symposium.
The one-day event ‘Culturally Competent Patient-Centred Healthcare: A Special Focus on Qatar’, was hosted by the Department of Global and Public Health. It opened with a keynote address by Dr Jamal Rashid Al Khanji, Director of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety and acting CEO of the Supreme Council of Health’s Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners.
Dr Ravinder Mamtani, Associate Dean for Global and Public Health, WCMC-Q, said that published reports had revealed that about 190 languages are spoken in Qatar.
The Center for Cultural Competence in Healthcare was established at WCMC-Q in 2008 to provide training in cultural competence for students and healthcare practitioners, he said.
Dr Robert C Like, Professor and Director of Center for Healthy Families and Cultural Diversity, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey, the US, spoke on cultural competence and patient-centred care. He said, “Differences in language, cultural background and ethnicity can be barriers to care, but with training, healthcare providers can transcend them and help patients access the care they need.
“The fact that cultural competency training is being introduced with a country-wide approach in Qatar means there is an opportunity for it to be truly transformative to have a positive effect on healthcare outcome.”
Dr Jeffrey M Ring, Director of Behavioural Sciences and Cultural Medicine, White Memorial Medical Center, and Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, the US, spoke about education and research in the field of cultural competence.
Dr Khalid A Alyafei, Programme Director, Paediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), spoke on ‘The Role of Health Education in Patient Safety Competencies’.
Maha Elnashar, Director, Center for Cultural Competence in Healthcare, said, “Our aim with the symposium was to support the ongoing process of building understanding between healthcare practitioners and patients, no matter where in the world they come from or what language they speak. It was very encouraging to see so many healthcare providers share experiences and knowledge.”
The Peninsula
