Qatar University Health hosts the first meeting for the Interprofessional Education Network for Arabic Speaking countries, which is an emerging network part of the Global Confederation for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice, Interprofessional.Global. At this meeting, 31 faculty member and professionals involved in interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice attended the meeting from ten countries in the region including Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and Iran.
Opening the meeting, Dr. Alla El-Awaisi Chair of the Interprofessional Education Program at the Vice President Medical and Health Sciences Office at Qatar University (QU) welcomed participants. She expressed her delight on how IPE has been growing in the region especially since the first Middle East conference of interprofessional education “New Frontiers in Healthcare Education” which was hosted by QU in 2015. She added, “The network will create and foster partnerships in the region and globally, exchange experiences, be a forum for discussing important issues in relation to IPE and collaborative practice and increase research productivity from the region to ensure our strategies and initiatives are evidence based and stem from best practices.”
Professor Asma Al-Thani, Vice President of Medical and Health Science emphasized that “Developing a Middle Eastern Interprofessional Education Network will reinforce the healthcare learning process in the Arab region as a part of Interprofessional.Global. It is a great opportunity for academic, research and clinical cooperation among universities and institutions in the Middle East.”
Dr. Johanna Dalberg, Chairperson of Global Confederation for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice, then provided an overview about interprofessional global vision and mission to serve as agents of change, providing global leadership in advocating for, collaborating on, promoting, developing, and researching IPE and collaborative practice innovation.
The meeting concluded with suggestions and comments from all participants on moving forward with the establishment of the Middle Eastern Interprofessional Education and Collaboration Network. Examples of global IPE networks were shared including the UK Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education; American Interprofessional Health Collaborative; Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative; Australasian Interprofessional Practice and Education network; Society for Interprofessionalism of European Countries; Nordic interprofessional network of Europe; Africa Interprofessional Education Network; Regional Network for Interprofessional Education in the Americas and Indian Interprofessional Education Network.
Dr. Johanna Dalberg congratulated attendees saying, “Congratulations on a successful meeting. I learned how much knowledge, enthusiasm and efforts are put into IPE and collaborative practice in the region. As an emerging network, I welcome you to the global conversation on Interprofessional.Global.”
Attendees expressed their interest in exchanging knowledge and experience to improve the status of IPE within their institutions and countries and create opportunities for academic, research and clinical collaboration around the Middle Eastern region.
Professor and Associate Provost Jocelyn DeJong from the American University of Beirut said: “The American University of Beirut is committed to introducing interprofessional education in 2010 and developed a required course that is based on health issues across the life-cycle where collaboration among health professionals is essential.” She added: “It is essential to have a regional network in IPE since it remains new to the region and is challenging to introduce and implement, but to foster teamwork across health professionals and to reduce interprofessional hierarchies in the region, IPE is critical.”
Dr. Danah Alsane, Assistant Professor at Kuwait University and IPE lead said: “Coming together is a beginning to establish the IPE network that serves the Arab-speaking countries (or Middle East countries). Such a network is fundamental to instruct guidance, evidence and resources required to support the state of IPE and collaborative practice in Arab-speaking countries,” She added: “Our plan is to offer IPE courses under a newly established IPE center that includes faculty members from different health professions such as medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, allied health and public health. The IPE committee here is well established and we have a strategic plan formulated along with IPE curriculum and IPE courses. Our next step is to pilot such courses and implement IPE courses within the next two years.”
Dr. Osama Alshogran, Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at Jordan University of Science and Technology said: “The first regional IPE network meeting was a great opportunity to learn about the Interprofessional.Global and the established networks of IPE and collaborative practice. It is optimistic to hear that IPE has been growing in the MENA region. The representation from various countries in the region shows the interest in developing an established and well-structured network of regional IPE that would be necessary to implement and further expand IPE, and have it as a culture within institutions.”
He added: “We at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) have been interested in IPE and trying to incorporate it within the health sciences-related curricula. As a start, research is ongoing to assess the perspectives and readiness of academics and students toward the implementation of IPE. In addition, the first structured interprofessional activity of IPE among students of health sciences is under development. Data out of these projects would be essential to have foundational knowledge about future plans for the incorporation of IPE within curricula.”
Dr. Naser Alotaibi, Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy Department, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, at Kuwait University: “I am interested in the area of interprofessional education and collaborative practice. I strongly believe that interdisciplinary networking can make a difference in the lives of different patient populations. Our collaboration, networking and support for each other in the area of Health Interprofessional Education can eventually produce desired outcomes. Such process should start from educational institutions thus supporting best interprofessional educational environment and eventually optimum health care delivery.”
Dr. Eman El-Labbad, Director of the Center of Interprofessional Education, Research and Practice at Gulf Medical University added: “It is a great initiative to start regional IPE network meetings, meeting champions in IPE, sharing experiencing and practice in IPE. Incorporating the competencies of collaborative interprofessional practice early in our healthcare professional curriculum on undergraduate and postgraduate levels is crucial to generate a collaborative Practice –ready health workforce prepared to respond to local health needs and provide patient- Centered care. Interprofessional education, research and practice is a core framework in Gulf Medical University (GMU) owing to the fact that it is a medical university and part of an academic health system all in one campus.”
Updates of the IPE network for Arabic speaking countries was presented by Dr. Alla El-Awaisi at the Winterthur Interprofessional.Global Symposium, which was hosted by The Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland and included representatives from the entire regional network around the globe.
Source: QATAR UNIVERSITY
