The Ministry of Health (MoPH) is introducing several new initiatives such as virtual reality (VR) simulation as well as clinical guidelines for various diseases to help the medical professionals ensure safety for the patients, said a top official. “We have introduced a VR simulation scenario where the physicians can understand the treatment procedures in detail.
They can practise the procedures to make similar scenarios. By making use of it, if they have any trouble while administering the treatment or procedures, they will immediately know how to handle the situation,” disclosed Sheikh Dr Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, director of Public Health at MoPH.
“The simulation through the VR helps the health professionals overcome difficult situations and rehearse the procedures in advance. We are also combining Artificial Intelligence with it. MoPH plans to add new videos every few months for different types of diseases and its complications,” explained Sheikh Mohamed.
The official said that MoPH is updating the protocols related to assuring patient safety. “Qatar is continually trying hard to ensure patient safety. We are working on clinical guidelines for different diseases which medical professionals can refer to while dealing with any of these diseases,” he noted. “When there are common guidelines, while diagnosing a disease, they don’t need to go back to what they learned during their study times. The updated guidelines provide the right methods which help in avoiding any big mistakes,” maintained Sheikh Mohamed.
He noted that some of the guidelines are already available. “What we are doing is publishing them for all the sectors and we are updating them as and when necessary. We keep issuing these guidelines to help the medical professionals follow a uniform method to make sure that they provide the best care for the patients,” he described.
“We are building up clinical guidelines for several diseases. We can’t not do all of them at a time. We are planning to release clinical guidelines as well as preventive guidelines for about 40-80 diseases. As we are focusing more preventive medicine, it can help people prepare early to avoid certain diseases,” he added.
Sheikh Dr Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani
