Developing digital literacy is very important among medical students as patients often come in with all kinds of information they have sought out online ahead of seeking treatment, said Dr Rasha Buhumaid, consultant emergency medicine, Dean Graduate Medical Education - MBRU Dubai Health.

While speaking during a conference organised by Khaleej Times on Wednesday, she stressed that digital literacy is a very important technological investment, especially for medical schools.

“Adopting a new technology is really about conceptualising it to what your priority is... I heard that the nurses really have a lot of trouble writing notes. So, we have to work together - physicians, nurses, for one purpose, which is our patients. So, we need to enable technology to be a partner with us to deliver the best care possible,” she said during the presentation on Wednesday at the one-day summit.

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Senior healthcare leaders from the public and private sectors across the region attended the 5th Future of Healthcare Summit 2025. Held under the theme of 'Echoes of Tomorrow | Building the Future of Care', the summit highlighted how healthcare is being transformed through innovation, technology, and strategic collaboration.

She stressed that it will be really the role of the educators to facilitate and help learners to be critical thinkers.

“We need to emphasise digital literacy. There's so much data. So, how do we know what is accurate and what is not? What is the evidence behind the data? Then work as collaborators with other professionals, especially interprofessional education within healthcare,” she said while giving a presentation on the topic of 'Transforming Health Education Emerging Technologies and Innovative Teaching Methods'.

She stressed that Big Data and Analytics are the reality; therefore, they should be adopted.

“We really need proper governance and policies to help learners understand what are the boundaries and help educators know when to use it and when to accept using it. We should allow students to really use it. The only thing I'm worried about is when you know a lot of the time, as a healthcare provider, we have downtime where technology will not work, and you have to go back to the traditional method. If we keep our learner's dependent on technology, they may not go back and be able to retrieve information without technology,” she added.

Earlier, Faisal Khalil Haji, Division Director, Health Sector Innovation, Department of Health, Abu Dhabi; and Paul Downey, General Manager, Abu Dhabi Biobank, held a fireside chat on the topic of“From Molecule to Market: Reinventing Pharma in the Emirates.”

In another fireside chat, Leenus Patric Obed, CEO of Emirates International Hospitals, and Dr Farhan Sher, Group Director Operations & HR Management, Fakeeh Hospitals, discussed sustainable healthcare and innovation.

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