Doha – March 24, 2022: Healthcare experts from across Qatar convened for a Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) interprofessional training event that discussed strategies to optimize the safety of medication for patients in the primary care and outpatient settings in Qatar. 

The Optimization of Medication Safety in the Primary Care & Outpatient Settings event was coordinated by WCM-Q’s Division of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and featured expert speakers from academia, the public health sector, and the private sector.

During the event, which was held on WCM-Q’s virtual platform, the speakers outlined the risk factors for adverse drug events and medication errors, discussed why and how medication safety incidences occur in the prescribing, dispensing and administration processes in primary care settings, and outlined strategies to reduce medication safety incidences at interfaces of care, specifically during admission, transfer and discharge of patients. The speakers also identified and discussed specific and significant medication safety issues that arose in Qatar during the COVID-19 pandemic and outlined strategies to minimize medication safety incidences arising from the pandemic.

The course directors of the event were Dr. Phyllis Muffuh Navti, assistant director of continuing professional development at WCM-Q and a clinical pharmacist; Dr. Anas Hamad, director of pharmacy and head of medication safety/quality at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC); and Dr. Manal Al-Zaidan, director of pharmacy at the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC). All three course directors were also expert speakers at the event. 

Dr. Navti said: “Medication safety is of paramount importance for patient safety and optimum healthcare outcomes. As such, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals must continually review procedures to ensure medications are prescribed, dispensed and managed correctly. This training event provided a great opportunity to discuss strategies to optimize medication safety, which is especially timely given that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many healthcare institutions to alter the way they prescribe and dispense medicines and also reduced opportunities to counsel patients on safe medication use.”

Other expert speakers were Dr. Mai Mahmoud, assistant dean for faculty affairs at WCM-Q and a specialist geriatrician; Ebtesam Abdulla, nursing affairs specialist at the PHCC; and Mr. Vyas S. Kattezhathu, manager of pharmacy academics & senior pharmacist at Wellcare Pharmacy. Three students also took part: Maryam Idris, a final-year medical student at WCM-Q, Maya Kriel, a third-year nursing student at the University of Calgary in Qatar, and Shareefa Nalupurappattil Mullakkeettil Moideen, a junior pharmacy student at the College of Pharmacy of Qatar University. 

The event was accredited locally by the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Healthcare Professions – Accreditation Section and internationally by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).