The College of the North Atlantic – Qatar’s (CNA-Q) department of Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) in collaboration with the School of Health Sciences (SHS) has successfully transferred and delivered a series of healthcare training courses online.
The courses – developed to support professionals in Qatar’s healthcare sector – were previously only offered through face-to-face delivery, but have since been transitioned and redesigned for optimum online delivery as a direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic and fully align with Qatar’s Department of Healthcare Professions (DHP) accreditation guidelines.
Over 1,085 participants have so far enrolled and successfully completed courses from CNA-Q’s healthcare sector training series, on key subjects such as Medical Safety in the Elderly, Healthcare Information Management, Communications in Healthcare, Basics of Healthcare Research, Clinical Decision Making, and Health & Wellness Empowerment.
“Healthcare professionals in Qatar have faced disruption to their continued educational development as a result of the pandemic. Through our efforts we have been able to support the evolving needs of individuals and groups in the healthcare community by ensuring continuity in their learning and development,” said Dr Suhaim Khalaf al-Josaiman, manager of CNA-Q’s CPE.
“The Department of Continuing Professional Education provided logistical, operational and technical support to achieve the highest standards of CPD delivery while the School of Health Sciences assisted in overseeing the academic development and quality throughout this transition. We are proud to have contributed positively towards healthcare sector in Qatar.”
Since the global pandemic began, Qatar has responded in a timely way with the implementation of its own country-wide lockdown restrictions in an effort to reduce spread of the virus.
In early March 2020, the government announced the closure of all schools and universities until further notice, impacting professionals across multiple sectors due to the almost immediate suspension of face-to-face, or classroom-based learning systems.
Educational institutions needed to respond quickly to these changes.
CNA-Q rose to the challenge by providing synchronous online activities in compliance with accreditation standards combining high-quality education with innovation and interactivity – seamlessly supporting healthcare professionals in Qatar with their continued education.
“Rapid change to the status quo as a result of the world Covid-19 pandemic has revolutionised the way we now design our professional development courses,” observed Dr Suhaim. “This not only applies to healthcare sector training; all of our new courses are now specifically developed for both online and classroom delivery.”
Looking to the future, the college will launch a full needs-analysis survey to help provide more targeted and accessible interactive learning to healthcare professionals, supporting the development of quality healthcare in Qatar.