The Qatar University (QU)-Health Interprofessional Education Committee (IPE) in Qatar recently organised its second IPE activity, titled 'Interprofessional Education Activity on Diabetes', virtually on Microsoft Teams.
Some 158 students and 12 facilitators attended the event. Professions involved in this activity were biomedical science, human nutrition, medicine, dental medicine and pharmacy.
The interprofessional education activity aimed to introduce the healthcare team members and their roles. The activity started with an icebreaker game, followed by an activity about the epidemiology of diabetes. After that, the students worked on a case study about a diabetic patient.
This activity helped students exchange knowledge and skills with each other and also involved them in the decision-making process while planning and implementing care.
The objectives of the event were to understand the importance of collaborative teamwork, communication and decision-making; recognise the roles of the various IPE team members and accept that every role is equally important; demonstrate respect for other healthcare professionals and
responsibilities; identify how each health profession’s scope of practice complements and enhances other professions and collectively enable improved health outcomes; demonstrate through application an understanding of the principles of teamwork communication; and to make healthcare students/professionals communicate in a collaborative, responsible and culturally sensitive manner.
“We learn of great things from little experiences; the IPE activity on diabetes was a great opportunity for healthcare students to experience interprofessional communication and shared decision-making. It was amazing to meet colleagues from various health professions and share the knowledge. The case topic was interesting and showed the importance of co-operation between the different healthcare professions to provide optimal patient care,” said Iheb Neceur, Year 3 dental student.
The interprofessional education system was founded to develop and facilitate interactions between healthcare students from different institutions, and world-leading training synergies across healthcare majors, equipping learners with team-based collaborative skills and emphasising interactive learning.
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