HIMMS Middle East held in Qatar for the first time

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Sidra Medicine, a member of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development and Qatar’s new hospital for children, young people, and women will be taking part in the “HIMSS Qatar Educational Conference and Health IT Exhibition”.

The exhibition, which will take place in Doha from 7 to 9 December 2017, will focus on improving healthcare provision through information technology. It is being jointly organized by HIMSS and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in partnership with Sidra Medicine and Primary Healthcare Corporation (PHCC), under the patronage of Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health.

Sidra Medicine, will also be the recipient of a HIMMS 6 certificate during a separate ceremony on December 7. This is following its official designation as a HIMSS Analytics EMRAMSM 6 facility earlier this year. The Sidra Medicine Outpatient Clinic (OPC) earned the recognition for using electronic medical records and other supporting technologies to enhance the quality of care provided to patients and families at the Sidra Medicine OPC.

“This is the first time a HIMSS event is being held in Qatar, as a testament to the massive national healthcare system transformation that is underway in the country. The participation of key operators in Qatar’s healthcare space will help create a robust platform for experts in medical informatics from Qatar and around the world to share learnings and find creative ways of overcoming challenges that emerge. We are very pleased to partner with HMC and PHCC to showcase how we are working together to advance and strengthen Qatar’s healthcare network,” said Dr. Khalid Alyafei, Chief of Medical Informatics at Sidra Medicine.

Sidra Medicine speakers will discuss topics ranging from clinical informatics to disruptions in innovation. In addition to Dr. Alyafei, who will be discussing the challenges in Electronic Medical Record (EMR) implementations, Sidra Medicine speakers include Executive Chair of Foundation Medical Services, Dr. Deepak Kaura and Dr. Avez Rizvi, Acting Vice Chief of Medical Informatics who will discuss better patient care solutions.

Sidra Medicine is at the forefront of developing customized applications to deal with the specific needs of its patients, significantly improving patient experience. Most recently, Sidra Medicine teams implemented the Whitespace Demand and Capacity Model and Scorecard apps which help reduce appointment wait times and improve doctor compliance with best practice protocols respectively. This is in addition to the launch of its Saffara application to help reduce wait times at its four pharmacies.

“The technology at Sidra Medicine is designed to be in line with our ethos of providing patient and family focused care. Very few hospitals in the world can claim the level of integration the Sidra Medicine OPC has achieved. We have customised our technologies, systems and processes to help our physicians treat patients in the best possible manner. With the current systems in place, our physicians can be alerted about unusual patterns in behaviour or prescriptions that may be not be suitable for the patient. The ultimate goal of all our technology implementations is to ensure patient safety and minimize human error,” said Dr. Khalid Alyafei.

Sidra Medicine has also been a key driver and stakeholder in Qatar’s broader healthcare revolution. As an example of this, Sidra recently partnered with HMC and PHCC and joined Qatar’s Health Information Exchange system. The system helps healthcare providers in Qatar gain access to records to review patient information including vital signs, lab and radiology results, allergy information, medication and medical documentation. The confidential system helps medical teams to jointly provide faster and more efficient care to patients across the country.

To register and find out more about sessions taking place and the conference, health informatics professionals can visit: https://www.himssqatar.org/ehome/155998/354101/