Teaching and learning at The New Children's Hospital in Hamad, Qatar

I love this picture. The contrast between cultures, the body language, the smiles and steely determination, the gender imbalance and the incredible promise in the February news that SickKids Hospital will be advising over 5 years the development and operation of  the New Children's Hospital in Qatar. This paediatric hospital will have 217-bed and 45,000 square foot and is located in Hamad Medical City, the not-for-profit health-care complex in Doha, Qatar.

“While in Doha, SickKids staff will provide expert counsel in such areas as paediatric medicine, surgical services, interprofessional practice and education, family-centred care and research. The partnership will also see staff from HMC travel to Toronto to take advantage of fellowship and learning opportunities at SickKids.

A key component of our international strategy is to share our knowledge and to help other organizations build capacity within their own countries,” added Cathy Seguin, Vice President of International Affairs at SickKids.

As of result of its world-class reputation for excellence in paediatric medicine, SickKids won the contract to partner with HMC over other leading health-care organizations in the United States, Europe and Australia.

Through this partnership, we will be working very closely with SickKids to develop our New Children’s Hospital. It will open in 2012 in Hamad Medical City and is designed according to international best practice standards in paediatric care.  This is a very important project and partnership for us, and will have a tremendous impact on health care in Qatar,” said Dr. Al Kuwari, Managing Director at Hamad Medical Corporation. “The New Children’s Hospital will be the first full hospital in Qatar specializing in paediatric care, and we are proud to be working with a leading international centre of excellence in this endeavour.” 

Such a relationship provides an excellent opportunity for cross-cultural dialogue and research and the inclusion of family-centred care among the areas covered is very interesting. Certainly SickKids staff will teach and advise yet just as surely there is always much for us to learn to the benefit of families in Toronto from a large paediatric facilities in the Middle East. How will they approach forums for kids and family advisery, parental presence during intubation, palliative and end of life care, respect for different beliefs, the decision making of the child? I look forward to hearing about learning opportunities in Hamad especially with their equivalent of SickKids Kids and Family councils and family-centred care education and practise.