The ‘1st UAE International Medical Education Conference in Dubai’, MedEdDXB, organized by Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) begins today to emphasize the importance of medical education and promote innovation and excellence in the medical field,.

The two-day conference, ‘Health Professions Education in an Interconnected World’, is part of MBRU’s efforts to focus more widely on medical education and clinical simulation through collaboration with strategic international healthcare players and institutions. It is also part of the university’s commitment to increase the delivery of high quality healthcare in the UAE and the region by placing emphasis on innovation.

Commenting on the importance of the conference, Dr Alawi Alsheikh Ali, Dean of MBRU’s College of Medicine, said, “We hope that the dialogue, which we are creating through this conference, is going to contribute to tangible outcomes in the development of the healthcare sector in the country and beyond. The conference also reaffirms MBRU’s commitment to innovation and its collaborative approach to partner with strategic healthcare players and institutions,”.

The conference – endorsed by multiple international institutions including An International Association for Medical Education (AMEE), the Society In Europe For Simulation Applied to Medicine (SESAM), Higher Education Academy in UK, Association for Simulated Practice In Healthcare (ASPiH) and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB)– aims to discuss several medical education and innovation topics including learner centered education, student selection, patient safety and clinical simulation, technology enhanced learning and patient and community involvement.

Areas to be explored over the two days include shifting away from instruction that is mainly teacher-centered to placing more focus on learning outcomes; placing the interests of patients above all others; simulation to replicate clinical scenarios; educational technologies that enable flexibility, creativity and innovation; and methods to involve patients and the wider community in the management and practice of healthcare.

More than 300 delegates, including healthcare professionals, faculty from various universities and academic institutions, medical students as well as delegates from different healthcare streams are attending the conference.