More than 3,700 doctors, nurses and allied health professionals from around the region attended a three-day conference on patient safety and quality improvement in healthcare, held over the weekend at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
Organised by Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), in collaboration with American-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), the Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare (ME Forum) featured four keynote addresses from world-renowned experts, and included over 55 interactive workshops and lectures.
HE the Minister of Public Health Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari toured the exhibition with members of 
her senior management team. 
“The Middle East Forum provides a fertile arena for healthcare experts and frontline staff alike to convene together and discuss practical ways in which they can refine their procedures and processes, with the ultimate goal of raising the standards of healthcare in their hospital or clinical environment,” said Ali al-Janahi, chief, Business 
Services Group, HMC.
An exhibition area called the Knowledge Zone featured stands from Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute (HHQI), the Ambulance Service, the Academic Health System (AHS) and a Social Media Hub. The Ministry of Public Health participated with information submitted by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP) and the Accreditation and 
Licensing division. 
HMC’s strategic partners, including teams from Primary Health Care Corporation, Qatar University, Sidra Medical and Research Centre, Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar, and the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) added to the rich diversity of information available for delegates.
Derek Feeley, president and CEO, IHI, said Qatar was a leader in embracing quality improvement and patient safety 
movements. 
“IHI has partnered with HMC for the past four years to develop the framework and embed the knowledge and thinking required to propel quality and safety improvement methodologies forward into real frontline successes. We are deeply proud of the achievements that HMC and the public healthcare sector in general in Qatar have been able to realise along their healthcare improvement journey,” said Feeley. 
Themes for this year’s conference centred on a transformative approach to improving healthcare delivery by inspiring 
innovation. 
A series of intensive pre-conference workshops on the day prior to the start of the conference included a half-day workshop on Quality Improvement Basics conducted in Arabic which was exceedingly well received by many local clinicians.
The conference was developed in accordance with the criteria set out by the QCHP as a category 1 learning activity.