Qatar- WCM-Q launches webinar series to support global healthcare education

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The division of Continuing Professional Development at Weill Cornell medicine Qatar (WCM-Q) has launched a new webinar series to support global healthcare education during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
The new series features presentations by leading academics engaged in healthcare education from Qatar, Europe, Asia the US and beyond sharing information designed to help fellow educators maximise learning outcomes for students during the pandemic. Students also take part in presentations to give feedback on their learning experiences during the pandemic. 
The new programme, called the ‘Covid-19 Healthcare Education Series', is co-directed by Dr Thurayya Arayssi, professor of Clinical Medicine/Senior Associate dean for Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development, and Dr Janette Samaan, senior international educator and former senior director of Visiting Student Learning Opportunities at the Association of American Medical Colleges. 
The purpose of the series is to discuss the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on healthcare education, to evaluate new educational strategies for delivery of medical education during a crisis and to outline challenges and strategies to transform healthcare education during a crisis.
The series is a prelude to a conference scheduled for December, titled ‘A Catalyst for Change: Promoting Health Equity in Global Medical Education in the Post Covid-19 Era', which will feature world-renowned experts in healthcare education. 
The webinars are accredited locally by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners-Accreditation Department and internationally by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.
The first webinar in the series was given by senior leadership from three medical schools, DrThurayya Arayssi of WCM-Q, Dr Abebe Bekele, dean, University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, and Dr Lorenzo Dagna, professor of medicine, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy. 
They discussed strategies for successfully transforming healthcare education during a crisis and the challenges faced by the global healthcare education community. 
Moreover, Amina Kunnumal, a WCM-Q medical student, reflected on her experience of managing her studies during these unprecedented times. 
The second in the webinar series took place recently and was given by Dr Gerardo Guiter, WCM-Q's assistant professor of pathology & laboratory medicine, Dr Jessica Evert, executive director, Child Family Health International, and Bruno Mourao, a third-year medical student at WCM-Q. 
The webinar, titled ‘Virtual Electives for Student Exchange Programmes', discussed the impact of the pandemic and lockdown measures on electives, which are short-term training placements in hospitals and other healthcare environments that typically form an important part of the advanced stages of a medical student's degree. 
The webinar described how technological innovations can be deployed to minimise the disruption to medical education caused by the pandemic, discussed strategies for designing and implementing virtual electives, and outlined the global challenges presented by the need to provide elective-based learning experiences to medical students. 
The webinar series was developed with the support of a global and diverse scientific planning committee constituted of physicians and other healthcare practitioners from Qatar, the US, Europe, Asia and South America and was attended by hundreds of global participants. The webinars will continue bi-weekly until December 14.

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