AHP Abroad Part 2

Permission kindly given by Jane Reid to re-post this blog which she recently posted on AHPAbroad.

At the end of this week I will be travelling home to Scotland for the first time since I moved out to Qatar almost 8 months ago. In one way it seems a long time ago since I was AHP National Lead for Children and Young People, involved in so many different projects with so many different teams and great people. On the other hand I still feel “new” here in Qatar getting to understand the culture and finding out more about healthcare in the Middle East. It is however a great opportunity and I feel very privileged to be involved in the discussions about national standards for healthcare practitioners and their continued professional development, and establishing Sidra as a facility that can accredit continued professional development activities for all healthcare practitioners. I am also very fortunate to work with a great team both in education and simulation who are extremely enthusiastic and innovative.

From a paediatric AHP perspective the use of simulation is still in its infancy. This offers us great opportunities to explore and potentially begin to develop evidence around the use of simulation for this group of professionals. Traditionally simulation has been used within high risk/low volume scenarios and although AHPs may be involved they are generally not the primary professional. Our initial focus is to develop inter-professional scenarios that are pertinent to AHPs which will be used in the clinical orientation period. I am not aware of many publications detailing the use of simulation by AHPs in a paediatric setting but if you happen to be reading this blog and know of anyone who is using simulation for AHPs in paediatric settings, please get in touch.

I was also privileged last month to attend the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s (www.ihi.org) Middle East Forum which was held here in Qatar. It was fantastic to see and hear so many international speakers sharing their experiences and knowledge. It was incredibly exciting to also hear the likes of Don Berwick & Maureen Bisognano mentioning Scotland and the Early Years Collaborative (http://www.earlyyearscollaborative.co.uk/about-the-collaborative).

I thinks one of the things I am enjoying most about my adventure here in Qatar is the opportunity to try things out and be involved at the beginning of so many things. Later this year I hope to be able to participate in the first inter-professional conference in Qatar which is being hosted by Qatar University and share some of  the AHP inter-professional experiences.

Although 8 months is not that long I do think I have had a great start to my journey both personally and professionally. It will be great to go home and catch up with friends and family but I will also be looking forward to the next steps in my AHP Abroad adventures.

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