Participants during interprofessional activity on smoking cessation
Doha: Qatar University’s (QU) Health recently held an interprofessional activity on smoking cessation virtually. A total of 75 Qatar University students attended the event from the college of pharmacy, college of medicine, and college of health sciences. Also, 16 facilitators from Qatar University, Weil Cornell, and the University of Calgary facilitated the groups’ discussions.
The event’s main objectives were to help healthcare students from different professions understand and respect each other’s roles and responsibilities while allowing them to interact and communicate professionally. The activity allowed healthcare students to work inter-professionally on smoking cessation as tobacco dependence is a serious public health concern requiring healthcare professionals to work collaboratively to encourage teamwork and shared decision-making.
The IPE activity started with an engagement activity, where students introduced themselves and their interests using google Jam Boards. Furthermore, the impacts of tobacco on health and well-being were addressed. After that, students discussed a case study about a 67-year-old woman who suffered from smoking effects. Students worked to assess their patient’s status by studying the patient lab test results and their indications and implementing a smoking cessation strategy. The 5A’s model and the 5R’s strategy to help in smoking withdrawal through a role-play with the facilitators.
QU College of Health Sciences Associate Professor of Public Health Dr. Lily O’Hara was the lead facilitator of this event. An orientation session was delivered to all facilitators beforehand to explain the plan for the IPE session.
Dr. Lily O’Hara said, “When health professionals come together to learn from each other, there is an enormous benefit to society. The use of tobacco is one of the leading preventable causes of death and disease around the world. The Smoking Cessation IPE activity demonstrated that all health professionals have a role to play in reducing the rates of smoking in our community.”
Weill Cornell Medicine Assistant Dean for Medical Student Affairs Dr. Mohamud Verjee, a facilitator during the event, commented, “Smoking cessation teaching is a priority for health-related professions at an interprofessional level. The stop smoking objectives were presented to the students, who were provided with background information followed by a problem-solving discussion with a simulated patient scenario. Students responded enthusiastically to the interprofessional event and hoped for more similar events.”
QU College of Medicine Teaching Assistant Noor Ahmed Adnan Al Wattary, a facilitator, said: “I think it was an informative and beneficial experience in which students could learn, apply, and solve any issue that might happen in their real-life settings. I was amazed by their approach of encouraging me to quit smoking in the role-play task. Even when I gave them difficult answers, they tried to search for more cognitive, social, and psychological solutions.”
QU College of Health Science student Asraa Saad A H AlBaker said, “It is important for people in health professions to think of real-life solutions accompanied with research results to raise patient awareness of a certain risk. To help someone smoking, you have to figure out his main reason, and depending on that, think of solutions that may enhance his ability to quit smoking using the 5A’s model.”
