Participants during the session.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar University’s Health Sector (QU Health) organised a high-impact Interprofessional Education (IPE) activity on smoking cessation, bringing together 205 students in 40 mixed-discipline teams, supported by 75 facilitators and co-facilitators from Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Physiotherapy.
The activity also included students from the University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST). The activity focused on teamwork and patient-centered care by guiding them through realistic scenarios with a patient case.
Across a structured programme, teams moved from a concise pre-brief and ground-rules setting into a role-play encounter comprising a pre-huddle, patient interview, team discussion, and shared care plan, followed by patient education and a facilitated debrief. Students also produced public-facing materials encouraging people who smoke to seek help with quitting.
Performance review and reflection took place at the end of the session, with particular attention to communication, collaboration, clarity of roles and responsibilities, patient- and family-centered care, conflict management, and overall team functioning.
Dr. Alla El-Awaisi, Head of the Interprofessional Education Programme, stated, “Our aim was to make collaborative practice observable, coachable, and assessable. By aligning the learning to a recognized IPE framework and asking teams to produce real patient-education outputs, students could see—very concretely—how each profession contributes to a unified cessation plan.”
Dr. Mohammed Al-Hamadani, Assistant Professor of Public Health at the College of Health Sciences at QU and lead for this activity, added, “The smoking cessation IPE was exceptional in September 2025. The engagement and discussion during the role play, creativity in collectively designing communication infographics, and in-depth reflections are all testaments to the need to continue IPEs, especially in relation to smoking cessation, a topic of prime importance in Qatar.”
Reflecting on the experience, Reem Ezudin, a third-year pharmacy student, said, “I enjoyed participating in the interprofessional education (IPE) activity on smoking cessation, as it allowed me to collaborate with peers from different health professions. Working together helped me understand the unique perspectives each profession brings to patient care. We created a tailored care plan that addressed the patient’s medical, psychological, and social needs, ensuring a holistic approach. I found the teamwork both engaging and rewarding, as it strengthened my communication and collaboration skills. Overall, this activity reinforced the importance of IPE in improving patient outcomes through shared knowledge and patient-centered care.”
