The Pharmacy Department at the National Centre for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) and the Heart Hospital in collaboration with Qatar University’s College of Pharmacy has piloted a pharmacy practice research programme.

The four-day programme titled: “Research Training Programme for Building Health-related Research Capacity of Pharmacists at NCCCR and Heart Hospital in Qatar” provides comprehensive research training that targets pharmacists practising at cardiology and cancer care institutions in Qatar.

The prevalence of cancer and heart diseases are on the rise in Qatar and the two have been identified as significant healthcare burdens and have been made priorities in the Qatar National Research Strategy and the National Health Strategy 2011 – 2016.

The programme, sponsored by the Qatar National Research Fund, is being provided by practice research professors from Qatar University’s College of Pharmacy including Dr Ahmed Awaisu, Dr Mohamed Izham M Ibrahim, and Dr Nadir Kheir as well as Director of Pharmacy at NCCCR and Heart Hospital, Dr Manal al- Zaidan.

Undergraduate students from Qatar University’s College of Pharmacy, Hanen al-Rowashdeh, Soumaya Allouch, and Tesnime Jebara are actively involved in the programme as part of their undergraduate research experience programme.

The training programme has already been accredited as a continuing professional development course by the Qatar Council for Health Practitioners, Supreme Council of Health (SCH) and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), USA.

Participants in the programme will be awarded 24 Continuing Education (CE) units by the SCH and 2.4 CE units by the US-based ACPE.

“The role of pharmacists in healthcare is rapidly evolving towards patient-centred care, and building capacity among the country’s pharmacists is needed. Pharmacists provide different types of cognitive services independently and in close collaboration with other healthcare professionals,” said Dr Ahmed Awaisu.

He explained that the four-day programme was intended to teach fundamental knowledge and skills on research methodology and biostatistics to novice researchers, especially in pharmacy related areas, and to provide motivation and impetus to get pharmacists started in planning and conducting pharmacy practice research.

“The ultimate goal is to use research evidence to influence practice change and health outcomes of the population at large. We believe this initiative will contribute significantly to human capital development of the country,” Dr Manal al- Zaidan noted.