The two day online healthcare communications event in November 20-21, 2020 will focus on training, research, and policy. Support is provided from Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar. The meeting will bring together international and regional experts to share best practices and recent research, and to discuss communication policies and standards. Participants will have the opportunity to attend a choice of four training workshops on priority topics for the region. The second day of the conference will consist of invited research paper presentations, panel discussions, and a keynote speech.

As the health ecosystems of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region mature towards international best practices, the role of effective communication in improving patient outcomes, promoting healthy behaviors, training empathetic healthcare workers, and increasing health literacy has received increasing attention from national ministers of health, hospital systems, and medical colleges. Additionally, the increasingly multi-cultural makeup of the Gulf nations necessitates attention to effective clinical communication skills.

There is very recent and urgent interest in healthcare communication in the region since an increasing number of residency programs and hospitals are now U.S.-accredited or internationally affiliated, and thus must rapidly meet international standards in healthcare provision, including communications standards. Delegates from Europe and the U.S. will have the opportunity to discuss healthcare communication challenges with local delegates and the meeting will hopefully forge international collaborative relationships among different regions of the world. The experiences of Muslim-majority health systems in delivering religiously sensitive health care, and the emerging field of Islamic medical ethics, will be of great interest to western partners.

The event is supported by funding from the Institute for Population Health, Alumni Affairs Department, and the Continuing Professional Development Department.

WORKSHOPS

The following workshops will be open to registration shortly. The workshop day is Friday, November 20, 2020 online from 12:45-20:00 Arabia Standard Time AST (UTC+3).

Breaking Bad News Workshop

Ambika Anand , Tripiti Sinha, Sheyma Al Romaihi

Cultural Competence in Healthcare Workshop

Maha Elnashar, Huda Abdelrahim

Conceptualizing, Measuring and Promoting Health Literacy in the MENA Region

Marta Fadda

Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in Arabic Speaking Countries

Abdul-Salam S. Sultan, Katherine Miles, Aiman Al Sharei