The George Washington University (GW) Office of International Medicine Programs (IMP) continued to lead initiatives in medical education and advising as part of its overall mission of building the capacity of other countries and sharing the latest advances in medicine and health care. We invite you to learn more about our work this year in the following sections, including recent projects in Amman, Jordan, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Jordan Hospital Site Visit
This past September, two GW faculty members traveled to Jordan to conduct an evaluation and education program at Jordan Hospital, a large, tertiary prestigious teaching medical center in the capital city of Amman. The faculty members included Bruce Abell, MD, assistant professor of surgery and director of surgical critical care, and Sherri Welch, education coordinator for critical care professional development and education at GW Hospital. IMP Executive Director Huda M. Ayas, EdD ’06, MBA ’98, MHSA ’93, and medical director, Stanley Knoll, MD, also participated in the visit to initiate the assessment and introduce the GW team to Jordan Hospital’s leadership.
Following a similar program GW conducted at Jordan Hospital in 2015, this year’s program evaluated the newly rebuilt and expanded Intensive Care Unit of Jordan Hospital. The GW team assessed patient care, educational programs, staffing, policies, and procedures for nursing and medicine, as well as outcomes and accreditations. Abell was a returning member of the GW team, having previously participated in the 2015 site visit at Jordan Hospital. During the five-day assessment, Abell and Welch participated in daily rounds, met with key staff, and gave training lectures on current concepts of critical care to ICU medical and nursing staff. The lectures also covered recommendations for accreditation and regulatory requirements.
Precision Medicine Course at King Saud University
IMP’s newly appointed research director, Fernando Vidal-Vanaclocha, MD, PhD, recently traveled to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to teach a five-day continuing medical education (CME) course on precision medicine to physicians at King Saud University between Nov. 17 and 21. The new and innovative course is part of GW’s ongoing CME programs to keep health care professionals up-to-date with the latest medical advances and training. GW has developed and delivered more than 120 of these types of courses in locations throughout the Middle East, Asia, and Central America.
The course prepared physicians to adopt precision medicine, focusing on molecular biology and genetics in the diagnosis and treatment of disease in their clinical practice and covers five themes, including new trends in precision medicine, clinical case studies, and economics and business models of precision medicine. Physicians participating in CME courses through IMP are eligible to receive American Medical Association credit upon successful completion of the course.
To learn more about GW’s Continuing Medical Education program, visit the brochure on our website.