Improving Patient Care Through Improved Teaching Educators Across the Health Care Spectrum series

Professor Scott Richardson, an international expert on teaching evidence-based health care, shared his views with Healthcare Professionals in Doha as part of a three-day Educators Across the Health Care Spectrum series (EAHCSS) held at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar and Hamad Medical Corporation from January 21-23.

Professor Richardson delivered the keynote address entitled “Improving Patient Care Through Improved Teaching.” The event was hosted by WCMC-Q Graduate Medical Education division in association with Hamad Medical Corporation and introduced by Dr. Amal Khidir, chair of the EAHCSS organizing committee.

Medical staff and academics in the Hajar Auditorium at HMC also received a live transmission of the keynote address. A series of workshops on a variety of topics were conducted over three days. Topics included teaching EBM and clinical reasoning in clinical settings; enhancing our learner’s clinical reasoning skills; and incorporating EBM into our teaching.

Dr. Richardson is professor of medicine and Campus Associate Dean for Curriculum at the Georgia Regional University in Athens, Georgia. He is also co-author of Evidence-Based Medicine: How to Practice and Teach It and a member of the international Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group that authored the Users Guides to the Medical Literature series in JAMA, now published in a book form. 

Dr. Amal Khidir said the interest, energy during discussion and evaluations of the event highlighted the determination of educators to change as well as their interest in actually incorporating evidence- based teaching. The discussion and interactions in these workshops emphasized the movement in Qatar towards inter-professional education. ‘I see this activity, and more to come, as an opportunity to continue the collaborative spirit and exchange of expertise across the healthcare spectrum”

WCMC-Q manager for Graduate Medical Education Deema Al-Sheikhly said the educational series highlighted the need for continuing education at the highest levels and proved popular with academics and staff.

It is an important cross-disciplinary educational program that will bring two world-class scholars to WCMC-Q each year to speak on key topics in health education. This collaborative effort between WCMC-Q’s GME department provided a great opportunity for networking and building a sustainable local capacity in the field of health education.