Doha, 22 May, 2019: Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Nursing Informatics Department has successfully launched a Nursing Informatics Research Community designed to empower nurses as researchers and further develop Qatar’s health informatics community.
The program, which was developed under the leadership of Dr. Wasmiya Dalhem, Executive Director of HMC’s Nursing Informatics Department, in collaboration with Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), its College of Science and Engineering (CSE), Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), and Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar (CMU-Q), was launched last month as part of a series of workshops designed to expose participants to new ideas in the field of research and to encourage them to engage in research.
“The establishment of the Nursing Informatics Research Community is a major milestone in that it marks the first time this team has been brought together for the explicit purpose of sharing valuable knowledge in the field of health informatics research,” said Dr. Dalhem.
“These workshops will build capacity among nurses at HMC, empowering them to engage in future research projects. As a result of these workshops, we have defined the priority areas of focus for future research efforts. Research is one of the key pillars of HMC and we are committed to contributing to this pillar and HMC’s overall vision of delivering the safest, most effective, and most compassionate care to our patients,” added Dr. Dalhem.
Over 500 nursing leaders and frontline nurses from across HMC’s network of hospitals participated in the introductory workshops, which were held at The Cuban Hospital, Al Khor Hospital, and Al Wakra Hospital. As part of the workshops, attendees were introduced to biostatistics, the branch of statistics responsible for interpreting the scientific data that is generated in health sciences, and were also provided with an overview of health informatics.
A small cohort of nurses was selected from the workshop participants and will receive additional in-depth training throughout the year to further develop their expertise. The targeted training will help the nurses gain the expertise required to lead research projects within their specialty, in collaboration with the Nursing Informatics team.
As part of the workshops, Dr. Mowafa Househ, HBKU, Dr. Luis Fernandez-Luque, QCRI, and Dr. Daniel Phelps, CMU-Q presented their work on building a nursing informatics research community and they highlighted the research agenda within Qatar as it pertains to health informatics.
Dr. Dalhem noted the expert lecturers have more than 40 years of combined health informatics expertise and she praised them, their organizations, and Qatar National Library for their support of the Nursing Informatics Research Community program.
“We are extremely grateful for the support we have received from the Qatar National Library, who facilitated easy access to their database and resources. Equally, the expertise we received from faculty based at local universities has been phenomenal. Strong collaborations underpin a successful academic health partnership and these partnerships will provide valuable support for clinicians in Qatar,” added Dr. Dalhem.
