Center for Cultural Competence in Health Care

Qatar’s extremely high-density multicultural setting has made cultural competence education a pressing need in healthcare. The Center for Cultural Competence in Health Care (CCCHC), an integral part of the Institute for Population Health (IPH), was established in 2008 under the leadership of Dr. Javaid Sheikh, Dean of WCM-Q, to meet this need. CCCHC is guided by WCM-Q's tripartite mission and committed to promoting culturally and linguistically appropriate healthcare services in Qatar, to achieve equity and eliminate healthcare disparities. CCCHC is licensed by leading American organizations to provide training to all levels of healthcare professionals in cultural competence, medical interpreter training, and emotional intelligence.

Education

The cultural competence training module is integrated into the curriculum followed by WCM-Q pre-medical and medical students. The sessions include didactic lectures, group discussions, interactive exercises, and videos. The topics include cultural diversity and its implications on healthcare, bias and stereotyping, understanding the perspectives of patients and the community, traditional healing practices, the role of medical interpreters, and contributors to health disparities.

Currently, CCCHC provides three major capacity building programs for healthcare professionals, accredited by the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Healthcare Professions-Accreditation Section (DHP-AS) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

These programs are outlined below:

Bridging the Gap Medical Interpreters Training

Bridging the Gap Medical Interpreters Training is a 40-hour course for bilingual professionals to overcome language and cultural barriers in healthcare services. By offering this course, CCCHC aims to build the capacity of medical interpreters to support the provision of effective communication in Qatar healthcare services. Since October 2012, CCCHC has trained over 300 professionals who speak more than 20 languages, representing the diversity of Qatar's population. This training is offered on:

  • November 4, 11, 18, 25 & December 2, 2023
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Cultural Competence in Healthcare Workshop

Quality healthcare for culturally and linguistically diverse populations require specific knowledge, skills, and attitude. The primary goal of the four-hour workshop is to raise awareness of healthcare professionals to understand the impact of culture on healthcare outcome and delivery, to learn how to interact effectively when working in a multicultural and multilingual setting, and to introduce strategies to overcome cultural miscommunication. This workshop is offered on:

  • February 20, 2023
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Mastering Emotional Intelligence

Emotions impact our physical and mental health, our learning process, our everyday effectiveness, our decision-making and above all, our relationships. This two-day course (10 hours) is designed to guide health professionals to use the power of their emotional intelligence to create a healthy, productive, equitable and compassionate social and work environment. This course will improve not only the health outcomes of their patients but also their own emotional well-being. This course is offered on the following dates:

Level 1 : 

  • March 4 & 11, 2023
  • October 14 & 21, 2023

Level 2 :

  • May 6 & 13, 2023
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Research

Read about the Center's research activities at the following links:

Community

Intercultural Communication & Collaboration Forum (ICCF)

ICCF is an annual collaborative initiative of Qatar’s Education City campuses. This forum hosts international experts and scholars to conduct world-class workshops, seminars, and certificate classes in various intercultural communication and collaboration topics. It aims to promote the intercultural and interprofessional communication skills in the educational and professional environment of Qatar’s diverse society.