Aimed to enhance skills in designing and conducting research, Qatar University’s Health (QU-Health) hosted the third of a 6-part interactive webinar series. Delivered interactively by health research experts from QU-Health and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), the sessions have been specifically developed to address the learning gaps reported by healthcare workers in Qatar.

The interactive webinar series welcomed participants from all over the world via the QU-Health YouTube channel live stream to learn more about the appraisal and design of quantitative studies.

Dr Hazem Elewa, Associate Professor and Head of Clinical Education and Training, QU-Health, stated “with the current COVID-19 pandemic, it has become essential that healthcare workers stay up to date with the latest reported evidence. It is important that they understand and are able to appraise the published literature and identify areas they can use to enhance their own practice”. 

Dr Daniel Rainkie, Clinical Lecturer, College of Pharmacy, QU- Health pointed out that, “Healthcare professionals come to these sessions unaware of their skills gaps in evaluating the medical literature. Our goal is to demonstrate a systematic approach that participants can adopt to ensure that they are able to better interpret and apply what they read to benefit their patients.”

During the interactive webinar, participants were shown how to evaluate the quality of published studies using a systematic critical appraisal process. This CPD series is being delivered at a highly critical time where there has been an identified increase in the number of publications in medical literature, reporting on research related to the coronavirus.

According to Dr Zachariah Nazar, QU-Health CPD coordinator, “there is huge creative energy coming from all fields for reporting on COVID-19; things are happening very fast and maybe not with the same scrutiny we’re used to in science and therefore healthcare professionals should equip themselves with the necessary knowledge to scrutinize the medical literature”.

Dr Kazeem Yusuff, Associate Professor at the College of Pharmacy, believes that “these educational series provide an opportunity for the development of working relationships between key institutes in Qatar and have the potential to provide a platform for effective continued collaboration in many areas related to health research and education”.  

This QU-Health HMC CPD collaborative initiative was established following strategic meetings between representatives from the two institutes in response to the challenges identified in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The series is one of the numerous efforts in the area of education and training, which are being offered by both QU-Health and HMC to healthcare professionals to support the development of their workers and the subsequent care they provide to their patients.

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