Doha: Qatar University (QU) College of Pharmacy has announced its winning the bid to host the first Middle East conference for Interprofessional Education (IPE) this December.
The college was hand-selected by Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE), the IPE world leader, based on QU’s lead role in the Middle East in raising awareness and encouraging IPE into curricula.
The conference will bring together faculty members from across the Arab world to learn about integrating an IPE approach into their curriculum.
Dr Ayman El Kadi, Dean of the college, said: “IPE is still a relatively new term to the Middle east although it has been gaining momentum worldwide in response to the need to prepare health and social care professionals to collaborate more closely to improve quality and safety in caring for patients. The college is well-placed to lead this event that will engage discussions on IPE and will be of benefit to participants.”
Dr El Kadi said the college initiated the first IPE Qatar Committee in 2013 and plays a leading role in incorporating the concept in all health science programmes represented on the committee.
He said IPE has been endorsed since 2010 by leading health organisations such as World Health Organisation and Lancet Commission.
The bid was announced following a year of five IPE events organised by the college. These included the most recent two-day forum ‘Interprofessional Education – Symposia to Qatar’ and collaborative activities with College of Arts and Sciences Human Nutrition Programme, Weill-Cornell Medical College Qatar (WCMC-Q) and College of North Atlantic Qatar (CNA-Q).
The fifth event ‘Interprofessional Education – Symposia to Qatar’ last month, led by Prof Lesley Diack and Dr Sundari Joseph from Robert Gordon University UK, included industry leaders, faculty members from Qatar institutions such as QU, WCMC-Q, University of Calgary, CNA-Q, Sidra Medical and Research Centre and Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, Prof Zainy Banjar, and Vice-Dean, Clinical Training & Development, Dr Abdulrahman Alahdal.
Diack said: “The symposia, research undertaken by QU/Robert Gordon University IPE research team and recent educational initiatives at QU put it at the forefront of IPE developments in the Middle East. It would be a great outcome of the conference to see an IPE network established in the Middle East.”
The Peninsula
