The QU Health Interprofessional Education Committee (IPEC) in Qatar University (QU), which consists of representatives from all the different health care colleges in Qatar, organized their first Interprofessional Education (IPE) activity for this academic year (2022/2023), on ‘Introducing IPE’ with a focus on roles and responsibilities. In addition, the Committee launched the IPE Passport Program face-to-face following the pandemic.
The objectives of the activity is to understand the importance of collaborative teamwork, communication and decision-making and recognizing the roles of the various IPE team members. In addition, the activity helps to highlight how each health profession’s scope of practice complements and enhances other professions and collectively enables improved health outcomes, with an emphasis on communicating in a collaborative, responsible and culturally sensitive manner.
The IPE Passport Program was launched to the students to offer structured integration and assessment of IPE in the different health programs. Students must complete a minimum of four IPE activities and submit a reflective assignment as per their assigned course/ module. Ultimately, a certificate of IPE passport program completion will be obtained after the student fulfills the program’s requirement signed by the Vice President for Health and Medical Sciences.
A total of 281 students and 27 facilitators from QU participated in this event. Professions included biomedical science, human nutrition, medicine and pharmacy from QU, nursing from the University of Calgary in Qatar and medical radiography from the University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST).
The activity started with a welcoming remark by QU’s Vice President for Health and Medical Sciences, Prof. Asma Al-Thani, followed by an introduction remark by the lead facilitator, Dr. Alla El-Awaisi.
During the event, Prof. Asma Al-Thani said, “The QU Health Interprofessional Education Committee has excelled in its core mission to provide guidance and support in implementing and integrating IPE within all the curricula at QU Health and other health care programs in Qatar to improve health systems, enhance collaboration and quality of care provided to our patients. Aligned with the Qatar National Vision 2030 of having a healthy population, physically and mentally, QU Health is focusing on providing skilled national students capable of providing high quality health services upon their graduation. This acquisition of cross learning will affect the students personal and professional lives and inspire them to be competent leaders who are able to make positive changes in the health sector in the State of Qatar.”
College of Pharmacy student Walid Kouidrisaid, “Attending IPE activities as a pharmacy student is an absolute pleasure. Attending this session gave me insight into the promising future of IPE. It also gave me a chance to learn more about other health professions and get along with them in order to work with them in future teams.”
College of Medicine student Sara Mohsen, “Having chosen a health-related major, it was exciting to know that I should communicate professionally with individuals of various professions, so that we can share knowledge and experiences for effective decision-making. Participating in such events will let us learn about our prospective health care teams and know where each of us can have a useful, and sometimes crucial, role in patient-centered care. Definitely looking forward to future IPE events and meeting more and more colleagues who will soon save lives for a living.”
College of Pharmacy alumni Ola Hasan Yakti, who acted as a facilitator in this event said, “After attending more than five IPE events during my bachelor’s degree journey as a student, I immensely enjoyed being on the other side of the activity as facilitator. This experience emphasized how important the IPE is for health care students in terms of understanding and respecting each other’s roles. I can’t describe how enjoyable it was to guide the discussions, listen to the students’ thoughts, and answer their questions.”
College of Medicine Second student Nadia Al-Sharif commented saying, “The IPE activity was very insightful. Meeting students from other health care professions was very interesting since I learned about their different professions and how we are all connected in the end. As well as that the goal for all of us is the same and therefore it is very vital that we all work together collaboratively.”
Source: Qatar University
