Poster scoops top prize at international education conference

September, 2014

 

WCMC-Q has won first prize in the poster presentation category at the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) Annual Conference in Milan, Italy.

Deema Al-Sheikhly, WCMC-Q’s manager for continuing professional development, presented the poster, titled Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) Curriculum Design and Implementation: A Faculty Development Program, which won first place in the Medical Teacher Poster Prize category from a field of approximately 800 rival poster presentations.

The poster was lead-authored by Ms. Al-Sheikhly, with contributions by WCMC-Q colleagues Dr. Dora Stadler, assistant professor of medicine and assistant dean for continuing professional development; Dr. Thurayya Arayssi, associate professor of medicine and associate dean for continuing professional development; Dr. Stella Major, associate professor of clinical medicine; Lan Sawan, Clinical Skills Center manager; and Dr. Mohamud Verjee, associate professor of family medicine.

This year’s conference, which had the theme Excellence in Education – the 21st Century Teacher, was held at the MiCo – Milano Congressi, one of the largest conference venues in Europe, and was attended by more than 3,000 delegates.

Ms. Al-Sheikhly’s work was an expansion of the Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) program with standardized patients that was developed by faculty and staff of WCMC-Q’s Continuing Professional Development Division, the Clinical Skills Center, and the Internal Medicine Department at Hamad Medical Corporation. The recent expansion of the program, which has been running for the past two years, created a need for additional faculty training. This prompted the development of Ms. Al-Sheikhly’s OSCE curriculum design and implementation course.

Paying tribute to her colleagues’ efforts, Ms. Al-Sheikhly said: “I was delighted and honored to have the poster selected for the award and I feel it is a reflection of the effort that was put into it and into developing the curriculum. This was only possible because of the ongoing support from Dr. Arayssi, Dr. Stadler, and other colleagues within the institution.

“This award is a great inspiration and will encourage me to focus on identifying other opportunities to enhance and develop further scholarly activities in medical education.”

The AMEE is a worldwide organization with members in 90 countries on five continents that promotes excellence in medical education. Members include educators, researchers, administrators, curriculum developers, assessors, and students in medicine and the healthcare professions. AMEE organizes an annual conference and delivers courses in curriculum planning, teaching, assessment techniques, simulation, and research and leadership skills for teachers in medicine and the healthcare professions.