Middle East

Citation

(2005), "Middle East", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 18 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2005.06218dab.002

Middle East

Europe, Middle East and Africa

Middle East

Innovative medical portal offers highest quality of continuing medical education to practitioners across the region

Keywords: Medical education, Performance management, Accreditation

A new portal that offers medical professionals the opportunity to pursue continuing medical education (CME) accreditation online was launched in Dubai today. The web site – www.iircme.com – is the result of collaboration between the American Academy of Continuing Medical Education (AACME), one of the world’s leading medical accreditation boards, and the Institute of International Research (IIR), and will offer courses from some of the world’s leading hospitals, teaching universities, and clinics to doctors across the region.

As demand for quality healthcare services continues to increase in the Middle East, medical professionals are under growing pressure to keep up with new techniques and updated research. The new subscription-based site aims to address this need by supplying doctors with educational programs from AACME, whose accreditation is recognized in 96 countries.

Health authorities within the Middle East increasingly expect doctors to attain a minimum number of CME credits as part of their professional responsibilities, and the launch of the new service has been given the strong support of Dubai’s Department of Health and Medical Services, the UAE Ministry of Health, and the UAE General Authority for Healthcare Services.

“At DOHMS, we are actively promoting the need for healthcare professionals to undertake a certain amount of continuing medical education each year, and we welcome the introduction of new resources that will enable doctors to do this. We are striving to make Dubai’s healthcare one of the best in the world and only through projects like this new web site will we be able to make it so,” said Abdul Rahman Belselah, Director of the Licensing and Specifications Department, DOHMS.

“The web site is set to be one of the most exciting projects for healthcare professionals to update their medical knowledge with, and we fully endorse this resource and actively encourage members of DOHMS to participate in it,” added Belselah.

Part of the advantage of making educational opportunities available online is that, in addition to enabling doctors to undertake professional training at the time most convenient for them, it also helps doctors outside of major cities with limited access to educational facilities achieve a world-class standard of training and development.

“The General Authority for Health Services for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi strongly encourages continuing medical education and continuing professional development for all healthcare professionals,” said Susan Ward, Associate Director, Education, UAE General Authority for Healthcare Services.

Support for the new portal has also come from the Saudi Council for Healthcare Specialties, an institution whose main objective is to upgrade professional performance in the kingdom by developing the necessary skills sets and ensuring the application of up-to-date knowledge in the different health fields and specialties.

“The new medical education web site will provide Middle East healthcare professionals with the highest possible standard of medical education. Each course is conducted by world-renowned specialists from globally-recognised institutions such as the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins University Hospital, which will make the highest standard of medical education programs available to all and fundamentally impact the way that doctors receive professional training in the region,” said John Hassett, IIR ME Exhibitions Director, Healthcare Division.

In addition to being easy to use, the site will be fully interactive, keeping subscribers updated about new courses available, and helping them to track the number of courses they have completed. Medical professionals will be able to select courses from the AACME portfolio, and will be supplied with the material in a DVD/VCD format.

“The IIRCME online program is expected to support the largest online learning community of physicians in the region, and will connect doctors with the latest information on patient care, new treatments, breakthrough medication, and worldwide conferences,” said Dr Andrew Somers, head of the Accreditation Review Committee, AACME.

The launch of the web site complements the ongoing growth of IIR’s Arab Health exhibition and conference, the Middle East’s leading healthcare event, scheduled to take place next in February 2005. Part of the reason for widespread growth of the event has been its facility to offer accreditation from the AACME to doctors that participate in the congresses that run alongside the exhibition.

“Because of our experience in providing quality healthcare education, we have been awarded the AACME’s Gold Seal of accreditation, which has enabled us to embark upon this unique endeavour. We feel confident that, together, IIR and AACME will be able to make a qualitative contribution to the ongoing development of the Middle East’s medical community,” commented Hassett.

Local authorities and educational establishments have welcomed the announcement, commenting that they expect a positive impact for both the medical community and wider population of the Middle East.

George Currathers, Dean of the UAE University, added: “The web-based education that Arab Health is offering should be a very good tool for healthcare professionals to keep in touch with the latest medical developments and an effective way for them to meet the required number of hours needed for license review.”

“Having the opportunity to gain new knowledge through the new web site will benefit not only the health professionals in their day-to-day practice, but also their patients to whom they provide health care services,” added the General Authority for Healthcare Services’ Ward.