Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is pleased to announce that the next Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare in Doha will take place from 22 to 24 March, 2019.

This is the seventh year in a row that the premier quality improvement conference for healthcare professionals in the Arab World is being held in collaboration with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). IHI is an independent not-for-profit organization that works with healthcare professionals and healthcare systems to promote quality and patient safety enhancement efforts using the latest and best models for improvement.

The annual Forum has become a widely recognized and highly sought after platform for healthcare improvement learning and knowledge exchange, with the active participation of renowned improvement science experts from around the world.

Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and a Co-Chair of the Forum, explained the reasoning behind the selection of the theme for this year’s conference, which is ‘Patient Safety First’.

“While healthcare organizations across the globe have made great strides in gaining a better understanding of the science of improvement, including patient safety enhancements, there is still a significant amount of work that healthcare professionals and healthcare systems must do to develop measurable and sustainable highly safe clinical care environments at both inpatient and outpatient levels. With this Forum we wanted to shine a spotlight on the importance of focusing on patient safety and acknowledging that, despite good intentions, patient harm can occur as we try to deliver care. The key areas that will be covered during the conference include: Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, Population Health, Workplace Effectiveness and Value, and Flow and Access,” said Dr. Al Khal.

Under each of the five areas, there will be many sessions and tracks addressing their different aspects. The Middle East Forum provides doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and students with a unique opportunity to learn and collaborate on a large scale. There will be over 50 lectures and workshop sessions delivered by local and leading international experts with many years of experience in applying the model for improvement. The 2019 Forum will include plenaries by renowned quality and safety experts addressing the latest innovations in the field. Both those who have attended previous Forums and those who are attending for the first time, will find the conference very interesting and engaging.

Mr. Nasser Al Naimi, Deputy Chief Quality Officer, Director of Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute, and Middle East Forum Co-Chair said: “The educational conference is now in its seventh year and each year we build upon the strengths and successes from previous years. This Forum is designed to support the strategic outlook on healthcare in both Qatar and the region with the aim of helping to build an integrated healthcare system that improves and sustains the well-being of current and future generations. We look forward to an exciting and dynamic conference which will be even more successful with the active engagement of all participants.”

To receive the early bird discount, participants can register online at MEF2019.hamad.qa. The full Forum program will soon be announced so delegates can choose which workshop sessions and speaker presentations they would like to attend.

Today Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) announced the keynote speakers for its upcoming Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare. The annual gathering, now in its seventh year, is attended by around 3,000 healthcare professionals from different organizations and disciplines who come together to pursue their interest in improving the patient experience and safety and quality standards.

The event, which will take place at the Qatar National Convention Center at the end of March 2019, will boast an impressive list of keynote speakers whose presentations underpin the Forum’s theme of ‘Patient Safety First.’

Dr. Nawal Al Tamimi, Acting Executive Director of Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute, which is responsible for organizing the Middle East Forum, says quality improvement and patient safety are everyone’s responsibility. She says the keynote speakers for this year’s conference were selected with that objective in mind. Dr. Al Tamimi noted that the event also provides an ideal opportunity for healthcare professionals to learn and share experiences with peers from other organizations.

“While we will explore wide-ranging quality improvement methodologies and practices across over 50 lectures and workshops, this year we wanted to focus on the core reason for engaging in quality improvement efforts, which is to improve patient safety. This has influenced our selection of keynote speakers, who include an eminent neurosurgeon and author, an emergency physician, who is also the founding director of the National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare, and a patient advocate whose personal tragic experience led her to get involved in risk management.”

“We are thrilled to once again welcome Ms. Maureen Bisognano as a keynote speaker, who brings a wealth of nursing and improvement science practice and knowledge. Our objective is to have a clear improvement message for every healthcare professional, regardless of their role, discipline, or organization,” added Dr. Al Tamimi.

Among the numerous international and local speakers who will be part of this year’s Middle East Forum, the event will feature four internationally-renowned plenary speakers:

• Dr. Henry Marsh, a UK-based neurosurgeon who pioneered the technique of brain surgery under local anesthetic, thereby allowing patients to converse with their surgeons whilst they operate, minimizing the risk of damaging 'eloquent' parts of the brain. He is the author of the best-selling book ‘Do No Harm’ and will share his personal experiences that have shaped his approach to patient care and what he has learned to help him become a better doctor.
  


• Dr. Rollin ‘Terry’ Fairbanks, the Founding Director of the National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare, Co-Director of the MedStar Telehealth Innovation Center, and Assistant Vice President for Ambulatory Quality & Safety at MedStar Health. A former paramedic, EMS medical director, and general aviation pilot, he is known for inspiring people to think differently about healthcare's approach to safety and risk.
  


• Ms. Leilani Schweitzer, the Assistant Vice President for Communication & Resolution at The Risk Authority Stanford. She entered this role after her son died following a series of medical mistakes. She now works in Risk Management at the same hospital where those errors happened and uses her own experience with medical errors to navigate between the often insular legal and administrative sides of medical error and the intricate, emotional side of the patient and family experience.
  


• Ms. Maureen Bisognano, is President Emerita and Senior Fellow at IHI, and a prominent authority on improving health care systems. She advises healthcare leaders around the world on practical ways of introducing real, effective, and sustainable systems change.

The Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety is designed to deliver educational and stimulating sessions for all healthcare professionals on the latest improvement science methodologies, techniques, and programs to enhance the safety and quality of care of patients. It is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Category 1) as defined by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners (QHCP) - Accreditation Department. Further details and online registration are available at: http://MEF2019.hamad.qa