Doha: Three students from Qatar University College of Pharmacy (QU-CPH) recently participated in the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF) Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) case-based learning competition (CBL). Participants were divided into four groups, and each group comprised four members from the different EMRO regions. A diabetes case was distributed among the groups with one week to solve the case. CPH students participating in the competition included: Professional Year 4 Dhabya Al Khater, Professional Year 4 Esraa Hamdy, and Professional Year 3 Ruba Sulaiman. QU-CPH PharmD student Sara Thiab was the guest speaker.
All groups had the opportunity to discuss and present their management plan for which Qatari student Dhabya Al Khater was in the winning team. QU-CPH Dean Dr. Mohammad Diab said: “Student competitions, in general, create a strong environment for students to enhance their skills and competencies that will make them successful people in their future workplace. Furthermore, a case-based approach competition specifically involves students in conversations of specific scenarios that resemble real life real-life.
In line with the QU mission to provide high-quality graduate and graduate programs that prepare competent graduates, destined to shape the future of Qatar, we always encourage our students to participate in such communicative and collaborative events.”
Dhabya was delighted to be part of the winning team and said: “It was a nice experience and a great pleasure to work in collaboration with different students from multiple nationalities and different cultures. We had a great opportunity to work as one team to provide the best evidence-based health care for our diabetic patients. I was so happy and excited to work with my team and to share my knowledge with them; we learned from each other.”
Guest speaker Sara Thiab commented, “Alone, you can go fast, but together, we can go far!’ Seeing pharmacy students from all over the Middle East working together to learn with and from each other was just amazing. It was a great honour to be invited as a guest speaker by IPSF-EMRO for World’s Diabetes Day. It was an opportunity to discuss different patient cases with passionate future pharmacists.”Esraa Hamdy said, “I would consider my experience as a mini Interprofessional Education session rather than a competition. Having the opportunity to interact, exchange knowledge, and build connections outside the comfort zone of QU-CPH was extraordinary and refreshing."
