Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) has held a series of workshops on biostatistical methods and interpretation to help healthcare professionals improve their research skills.
Titled 'Certificate in the Analysis of Medical Data: Applied Biostatistics for Healthcare Professionals', the certificate offers three workshops (introductory, intermediate and advanced) aimed at enabling healthcare professionals to better organise, manage and analyse their data and correctly interpret and summarise its results.
The workshops are applied in nature, allowing participants to learn about biostatistical concepts through case studies that use statistical software.
The overall learning objectives are to enable participants to enter and manage data using statistical software; perform bivariate and multivariate analysis for continuous and dichotomous outcomes; and implement simple analysis for survival data.
The workshops are aimed at physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, allied health professionals, students, researchers and educators. However, anyone interested in research can also attend.
Co-ordinated by the Division of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) at WCM-Q, the workshops were led by Dr Ziyad R Mahfoud, professor of research in population health sciences at WCM-Q, and facilitated by WCM-Q’s Deema al-Sheikhly, director of medical education and continuing professional development, and lecturer of education in medicine; Padmakumari Sarada, teaching specialist in math and statistics; Soha Dargham, senior biostatistician; and first-year medical student Ibtihal Kamal.
Dr Mahfoud said, “Research is considered the main pillar for the advancement of science and the improvement of healthcare for patients, and biostatistics plays a key role in research. Our Certificate and associated training workshops are designed to help healthcare professionals improve their skills in research by accurately organising, managing and analysing data. With healthcare professionals being better equipped to independently analyse data, we are also likely to see an increase in research output in Qatar and the region.”
To receive the certificate, participants are required to complete all three workshops and successfully pass an assessment at the end of each activity. Participants who are interested in only registering for individual workshops receive a certificate of attendance indicating the level of workshop attended and the number of credits received as per hours attended.
In Qatar, WCM-Q is accredited as a provider of continuing medical education by the Department of Healthcare Professions of the Ministry of Public Health, and accredited internationally by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.
The next edition of the 'Certificate in the Analysis of Medical Data: Applied Biostatistics for Healthcare Professionals' is scheduled to begin with two introductory online and in-person workshops on August 25 and 26.
Dr Ziyad R Mahfoud
