The Lebanese American University has a well-functioning inter-professional education (IPE) programme; this is a fundamental pedagogical approach in healthcare education in which students from different professions learn together, ultimately leading to improving the skills of the health care workforce and thus improving patient outcomes. The programme includes nursing, nutrition, medicine, pharmacy and social work students, and has now been running for 6 years.This paper aims at describing the implementation of an IPE programme in Lebanon by focusing on how to overcome the main challenges.We describe our experience using the categories of challenges developed by Sunguya et al. (2014), where they analysed published reports of IPE programmes in developed countries. We identified three additional challenges that might be relevant throughout the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region or in countries with similar socioeconomic characteristics.The challenges encountered in designing and implementing the IPE programme were similar to other programmes: curriculum, leadership, resources, stereotypes and attitudes, variety of students, IPE concept, teaching, enthusiasm, professional jargon and accreditation as well as assessment of learning, security and logistics.This paper provides data and successful strategies that can be used by planned or implemented programmes in similar socioeconomic contexts in the MENA region.تنفيذ برنامج تعليمي لأصحاب المهن المختلفة في لبنان: التغلب على التحديات.أنّا فرّا، روني الزعني، سومانا ناصر، ناديا أسمر، ألين ميلان، مايا باسيل، منى حيدر، مها الهبر، نادين زعني، نانسي هوفارت.يوجد في الجامعة اللبنانية الأميركية برنامج فعَّال لتعليم أصحاب المهن المختلفة، وهو مقاربة تربوية أساسية في التعليم في مجال الرعاية الصحية يتعلم فيها طلاب ينتمون إلى مهن مختلفة معًا، مما يؤدي في نهاية المطاف إلى تحسين مهارات القوى العاملة الصحية، وبالتالي تحسين المخرجات الخاصة بالمرضى. يتضمن البرنامج طلابًا في التمريض والتغذية والطب والصيدلة والعمل الاجتماعي وهو برنامج يتواصل تشغيله منذ 6 سنوات.ويهدف هذا البحث لوصف تنفيذ برنامج تعليم أصحاب المهن المختلفة في لبنان من خلال التركيز على كيفية التغلب على التحديات الرئيسية.نصف في هذا التقرير الخبرات التي اكتسبناها باستخدام فئات التحديات التي وضعها سونجويا وزملاؤه (2014) ، عندما حللوا ونشروا تقارير حول برامج تعليم أصحاب المهن المختلفة في البلدان المتقدمة. لقد حددنا 3 تحديات إضافية قد تتعلق بجميع أنحاء إقليم الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا أو بالبلدان ذات السمات الاجتماعية والاقتصادية المماثلة.لقد اتضح لنا أن التحديات التي يواجهها تصميم وتنفيذ برنامج تعليم أصحاب المهن المختلفة كانت مماثلة للتحديات لتي تواجهها البرامج الأخرى: المنهج الدراسي، والقيادة، والموارد، والتصرفات النمطية والمواقف، وتنوع الطلاب، ومفهوم برنامج تعليم أصحاب المهن المختلفة، والتدريس، والحماس، والمصطلحات الفنية و الاعتماد، إلى جانب تقييم التعلم، والأمن واللوجستيات (الاحتياجات اللوجستية).يقدم هذا البحث البيانات والاستراتيجيات الناجحة التي يمكن استعمالها في البرامج التي يجري التخطيط لها أو تنفيذها في السياقات الاجتماعية والاقتصادية في إقليم الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا.Mise en oeuvre d’un programme d’enseignement interprofessionnel au Liban : surmonter les difficultés rencontrées.L’Université américaine de Beyrouth possède un programme d’enseignement interprofessionnel (EIP) performant ; il suit une approche pédagogique fondamentale pour l’éducation sanitaire, selon laquelle des étudiants provenant de différents corps de métier apprennent ensemble, ce qui, au final, entraîne un développement au niveau des compétences parmi les professionnels de santé et, par conséquent, une amélioration des résultats pour les patients. Ce programme regroupe des étudiants en soins infirmiers, en nutrition, en médecine, en pharmacie et dans le domaine des services sociaux et il fonctionne depuis six ans.Le présent article vise à décrire la mise en oeuvre d’un programme d’EIP au Liban en s’attachant plus précisément aux moyens de surmonter les principales difficultés rencontrées.Nous décrivons notre expérience concernant l’utilisation des catégories de difficultés élaborées par Sunguya et al. (2014) dans leur analyse de rapports publiés sur des programmes d’EIP mis en place dans des pays industrialisés. Nous avons identifié trois difficultés supplémentaires susceptibles de s’appliquer partout dans la région du Moyen-Orient et de l’Afrique du Nord ou dans des pays présentant des caractéristiques socioéconomiques semblables.Les difficultés rencontrées lors de la conception et de la mise en oeuvre du programme EIP étaient proches de celles observées avec d’autres programmes : cursus, leadership, ressources, stéréotypes et attitudes, diversité des étudiants, concept de l’EIP, enseignement, enthousiasme, jargon professionnel et accréditation, ainsi que contrôle des connaissances, sécurité et logistique.Cet article fournit des données et des stratégies probantes qui peuvent être utiles à des programmes futurs ou déjà mis en oeuvre dans des contextes socioéconomiques semblables au sein de la région du Moyen-Orient et de l’Afrique du Nord.
The Lebanese American University Interprofessional Education (LAU IPE) Steps Framework consists of a five-step workshop-based series that is offered throughout the curriculum of health and social care students at an American university in Lebanon. The aim of the present study was to report students' perceptions of their readiness for interprofessional learning before and after completing the IPE steps, their evaluations of interprofessional learning outcomes, as well as their satisfaction with the learning experience as a whole. A longitudinal survey design was used: questionnaires were completed by students before IPE exposure and after each step. The results showed that before IPE exposure, students' perceptions of their readiness for interprofessional learning were generally favourable, with differences across genders (stronger professional identity in females compared to males) and across professions (higher teamwork and collaboration in pharmacy and nutrition students compared to other professions and lower patient centredness in nursing students compared to others). After participation in the IPE steps, students showed enhanced readiness for interprofessional learning and differences between genders and professions decreased. Participants were satisfied with the learning experience and assessment scores showed that all IPE learning outcomes were met. The LAU IPE Steps Framework may be of value to other interprofessional education course developers.
We have used a method of surveillance for diarrhoea that examines day-point prevalence in sentinel communities in children under 3 years of age. The data have been most helpful in designing aspects of the National Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases Project (NCDDP). We found diarrhoea to be most prevalent and most serious in children under 24 months of age, in rural areas, and in summer and autumn. Children spend on the average 11 per cent of their year with diarrhoea, nearly two-thirds of which is watery. Mothers are increasingly using oral rehydration therapy; and they are more likely to seek medical help when signs of dehydration occur. The majority of children were given less food during diarrhoea and about one-third are taken off breast milk for a week or more if diarrhoea persists.
Despite promising initiatives to advance the practice of pain management in Middle Eastern countries, their pain care lags behind developed countries. The objectives of this study are to evaluate physicians' assessment of their own competency in pain management, to assess physicians' practice related to pain management, and to identify physician-related barriers to effective pain control. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 3 teaching medical centers in Lebanon targeting the above-mentioned outcomes and assessing the impact of physicians' years in practice on the studied end-points. A total of 69 physicians were surveyed. Fifty-seven percent reported "very good to excellent" pain management skills; only 25% of them described the need for continuing professional development. When treating patients with pain, 52% of physicians refer to updated international guidelines, whereas 43% rely on their own judgment. Physicians were more likely to consult with another physician (65%) rather than a pharmacist (12%) when treating patients with pain. Fear of adverse effects of analgesics was the most commonly reported barrier (45%) to pain control among physicians from different career stages. Based on these survey findings, national pain management and practice policies are needed to optimize this area of deficiency in patient care.
Background: The measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) provides utility scores that could be used for health economics assessment. The aim of this study was to measure HRQoL in Lebanese patients with certain medical conditions, and to determine demographic and medical factors affecting such health utility scores. Method: This was a prospective cross-sectional pilot study conducted to gather information on the socioeconomic status, health condition and quality of life of participants with common diseases during their community pharmacy visit. The EuroQol-5-Dimension instrument was used to measure utility scores and SPSS v26 was used to perform the statistical analysis. Results: Participants (n = 102) gave an average of 6.8 and 7.4 out of 10 for their current health and for their satisfaction with their treatment, respectively. The mean utility score was 0.762 (SD 0.202). The number of prescribed medications per respondent indicated a significant impact on HRQoL (p = 0.002). On average, the utility scores were low for participants who were 75 years or older (0.15, p < 0.001), and those who were hospitalized in the past 12 months (0.111, p < 0.001). For every unit increase in treatment satisfaction, the quality-of-life score increased by 0.036 unit (p = 0.001). Conclusion: This pilot study measured health utility scores and factors influencing HRQoL in the Lebanese population. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings and to develop and validate tools helping to measure health related quality of life in the population in Lebanon.
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