Doha: The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) unit within Qatar University’s (QU) Health Cluster hosted a joint meeting recently with the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP) to discuss the challenges and opportunities for delivering CPD activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting welcomed over 60 representatives from institutions across Qatar to share and discuss strategies to continue delivering CPD activities to support the training and educational needs of their workforces. QCHP, an advocate for such initiatives, provide accreditation for CPD activities and CPD providers in Qatar according to internationally recognized standards, with the aim of promoting best practices in healthcare.
Pre-COVID-19, CPD providers across Qatar offered regular faceto-face educational and training sessions based on the needs of their workforce and emerging evidence from international literature.
However, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many CPD providers have either suspended their CPD activities in order to adhere to the social distancing requirements or have developed alternate means of delivery. This meeting provided a forum for Qatar’s experts in CPD to engage, collaborate and share inter-professional practices and expertise that support the ongoing delivery of CPD.
Qatar University Health has been delivering CPD activities to all healthcare professionals since 2017; their CPD coordinator Dr Zachariah Nazar explained that, “We, as CPD providers have a significant responsibility to ensure that our healthcare workers are provided with convenient means to access the most relevant educational and training to support their practice in these challenging times.”
Among other topics discussed at the meeting was the challenge of providing the most up-to-date evidence-based information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic to healthcare workers.
As scientists all over the world continue in their efforts to develop and propose strategies to prevent and treat against the virus, the subsequent implications for healthcare practice can be significant.
It is therefore essential that healthcare workers are wellinformed with the latest evidence and guidance in order to provide the best possible care to patients and the public.
In response to the coronavirus outbreak and the world-wide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Weill Cornell MedicineQatar (WCM-Q) launched a COVID-19 Live Webinar Clinical Series delivered by international experts to support the ongoing learning of our healthcare community.
Deema Al Sheikhly, Director of Medical Education and CPD at WCM-Q, said: “We appreciate the opportunity to listen to other CPD providers and to share our experience on how we leveraged our existing digital teaching strategy to make the transition to online learning as rapidly and seamlessly as possible. This enabled us to meet the needs of the healthcare community by delivering evidencedbased CPD activities in a timely manner and through an accessible platform.”
Co-head of the Pharmacy CPD program at Hamad Medical Corporation Dr Abdul Rouf, greeted the opportunity to share and learn with experts in the field.
“This meeting has provided us with valuable insight into approaches that have been adopted by other CPD providers, it will definitely help us going forward; it is essential that such forums are maintained so that we can continue to benefit from each other’s experiences”.
Plans were made during the meeting for further collaboration between institutions to co-develop CPD activities and share learning resources. Further, Dr. Essam Elsayed Adbelrafaa, Education Supervisor at QCHP emphasized QCHP’s continued commitment to foster collaboration, partnerships and scholarly work in the area of CPD to support the professional development of healthcare practitioners and promote excellence in the delivery of care to Qatar’s population.
