Primary Health Care Corporation's (PHCC) Research Section in the Department of Clinical Affairs and the Workforce Training and Development initiated recently a staff research training programme to support and equip primary care clinicians and other allied staff with the right tools and capabilities to undertake research within a multidisciplinary environment.
In the first batch of training in 2017, a total of 55 staff members completed their training. The second batch will undertake once-weekly five-week training at Al Thumama Health Centre, starting September 14.
PHCC aims to train 100 new staff every year. Between 2015 and 2017 the organisation has successfully trained around 270 staff members from different disciplines and a number of them are already participating in research projects. In 2017, PHCC also plans to provide more advanced training to some of the staff who have already been trained.
The main objective of this programme is to support the PHCC staff to develop the skills and competencies necessary for the good conduct of high quality research. The approach is hands-on, contextualised and workshop-focused, allowing for full and active participant interactions.
The course, accredited by the Qatar Council for Health Practitioners as a Category 1 Continuing Professional Development Activity, is designed in modules, and delivered by a partnership team of research experts and trainers drawn from Qatar’s Academic Health System including PHCC, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar and Sidra Medical and Research Center. This training team provides practical, scenario-focused examples and facilitate group-based activities that allow participants to develop the skills necessary for conducting good research, including ethics and ensuring the safety and well being of research participants.
By this approach, the PHCC staff research training programme is designed meet the goals of PHCC’s research readiness to fully implement the Primary Health Care Research Strategy within the context of the National Health Research Strategy.
