Around 200 healthcare students and 23 faculty members from Qatar University’s (QU) College of Pharmacy (CPH), College of Medicine (CMED) and College of Health Sciences (CHS); University of Calgary in Qatar (UCQ) and College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) participate in an activity on smoking cessation organised by QU Health Interprofessional Education Committee (IPEC).
The activity engaged students and faculty members from various healthcare professions including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, pharmacy technician, public health and respiratory therapy. The IPE activity aimed to train students on providing care related to smoking cessation in a collaborative and integrative manner focusing on role clarification, inter-professional communication and shared decision making.
The program agenda started with welcoming remarks by CPH Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and QU Health IPEC Chair Dr. Alla El Awaisi. It was followed by an ice-breaker activity to familiarise the students with the concept of inter-professional education and how to share the commonalities and differences of their respective academic disciplines and professional backgrounds. To set up the context, students were given 20 minutes to share their knowledge and experiences regarding the impact of tobacco on health and wellbeing in the form of a group-based discussion.
The issue of smoking cessation was addressed through an interactive case based discussion about a heavy 65-year-old smoker who was admitted to hospital with an exacerbation of her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The students followed the patient from admission to discharge by sharing different healthcare perspectives on the case and making a shared decision together. They were then asked to interview a simulated patient, collaboratively collect all the relevant data and provide the patient with a comprehensive care plan and counseling.
Commenting on the activity, CPH Chair of Clinical Pharmacy and Practice Section and Associate Professor Dr. Maguy El Hajj said, “Smoking is one of the greatest burdens on healthcare systems in Qatar. Healthcare professionals in Qatar have excellent opportunities to combat this burden. This smoking cessation IPE event was of the utmost importance to train our future healthcare professionals in the care of patients who wish to quit smoking. Together, students were able to provide an action plan and discussed how to follow up with patients. These students will be able to provide the future of Qatar’s healthcare needs.”
UCQ coordinator of the Continuing Professional Development and Lead Representative at IPEC, Ms. Kathleen de Leon-Demare said: “This IPE activity was valuable learning for faculty as well as students. By sharing clinical guidelines, change theories and evidence-based tools to develop this IPE activity, we added to our toolkit on the topic of smoking cessation. This health issue is a priority for all health professionals and is best tackled using an inter-professional approach.”
The IPE Committee (IPEC) was founded in 2014 by Qatar University College of Pharmacy to provide guidance and support in implementing IPE within the pharmacy curriculum, as well as in QU partner healthcare training programs in the country. It was moved to QU Health level in September 2017, which was established to jointly design, implement and evaluate IPE initiatives at QU Health working alongside other healthcare programs in Qatar.
source: The Peninsula
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