An interactive educational session on dementia care was held under the auspices of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) unit within the Qatar University Health Cluster (QU Health).
The educational session aimed at understanding the local prevalence and availability of support services for dementia and to discuss creating dementia-friendly spaces and social support for older persons. In addition, it aimed to explore family caregivers and informal careers needs and experiences and to reflect on the assessment, interventions and different stages of the disease trajectory with discussing the therapeutic approaches and models of dementia care, QU said in a statement.
The event hosted national experts led by Dr Mani Chandran, who discussed the local prevalence and available support services for dementia. He discussed creating dementia-friendly spaces and social support for older persons and reflected on the assessment, interventions and different stages of the disease trajectory. In addition, he discussed therapeutic approaches and models of dementia care. The audience also heard from Dawn Francis, a dementia-patient care of ten years, as she shared her personal experiences and challenges caring for her late husband.
QU Health CPD co-ordinator Dr Zachariah Nazar explained, “We, as CPD providers, have a significant responsibility to ensure that our health care workers are provided with convenient means to access the most relevant educational and training to support their practice in these challenging times.”
The Continuing Professional Development Unit for Health Practitioners works in partnership with both health and educational institutions in Qatar to investigate the initial training needs of healthcare providers and provide targeted training to meet these needs.
In addition to the work of the Continuing Professional Development Unit in Health at Qatar University, it strives to harness the efforts of local experts to work together in developing more educational and training activities.
