From left to right: Azan Binbrek (the moderator), Jassim Al Suwaidi, Philip Anderson, and Galen Henderson field questions from the audience following a series of discussions on emergency management of acute conditions.

HMI and its strategic collaborator Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) held the second annual large-scale Practi-Med event in December. Around 400 health care professionals from the Gulf Region and other areas gathered in Dubai for a series of interactive discussions on a wide range of issues commonly encountered in primary care.

“The three-day program was led by a multidisciplinary faculty that included not only leading medical authorities from Harvard Medical School, but leading physicians from local hospitals as well,” said Dr. Harvey Makadon, Harvard Medical School associate professor of medicine and vice president of health systems at HMI. “We worked closely with regional authorities in health care delivery and medical education to identify the most pressing concerns of physicians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the surrounding region. As HMI and DHCC continue to develop the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center and accelerate educational activities in the region, Practi-Med Dubai will serve as the flagship for our efforts.”

This year’s program included a number of topics that have not previously been covered at Practi-Med, including emergency medicine, dermatology, headache diagnosis and treatment, and counseling patients with severe illnesses. Full sessions were also dedicated to discussions on cardiology, health issues of mothers and children, infectious diseases, and common medical problems like diabetes, stroke, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Peta Gillyatt, who manages the development of CME programs for HMI, reported that this year’s program was very interactive. “The physicians in attendance were eager to discuss specific cases and raise questions they have encountered in their practice,” she said. In addition to lectures, Practi-Med included “Meet the Professor” sessions that gave program faculty a chance to interact with attendees in a small-group setting.

Global health care challenges becoming local to UAE
A major goal of Practi-Med is to provide a forum wherein health care providers can update their knowledge—to gain access to a lot of new knowledge in a small amount of time. Busy with their daily practice, doctors may find it difficult or impossible to keep up with the latest advances in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease. The faculty recruited for Practi-Med, due to the duality of their roles as researchers and practitioners, are well positioned to bring to bear new techniques or approaches that have been identified, or to relate recent studies that may impact the use of medication or surgery.

Another rationale for gathering these medical professionals in a distant country—a perhaps less obvious reason—is the fact that some of the health problems now emerging as significant threats to the health of the region have already become part of the focus of health care providers in the West. Heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension are just a few notable examples of common problems that primary care providers in the Gulf Region are seeking to address. “Specialists in the United Arab Emirates surmise that a lack of physical exercise combined with a fatty diet have contributed to soaring levels of high blood pressure and diabetes among UAE nationals,” said Makadon. “By highlighting these health problems and presenting the latest information about treatment and prevention, we hope to help local providers address these issues before they reach epidemic proportions. Knowledge gained today about these diseases carries obvious near-term benefits for patients, but also could lead to significant long-term benefits for the health care system.”

Gerald Smetana, MD, associate professor of medicine at HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, lectured on preoperative cardiac evaluation, specifically how to stratify and reduce risk in heart patients. He said, “It was quite remarkable to see how many similar challenges we face with our colleagues halfway around the globe.”

Joseph Kannam, MD, also of HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, agreed. He led discussions of coronary heart disease and lipid management, and found common cause with many of the Practi-Med attendees who raised questions or presented cases. “Practi-Med Dubai was a learning experience for me as well. Many of the challenges we face practicing medicine in the United State—not only in terms of the diseases themselves, but issues like the cost of medication and patient compliance—are also faced by our colleagues in the Middle East,” he said. “I think Practi-Med Dubai was a tremendous success. The audience of primary caregivers was sophisticated with a substantial depth of knowledge.”

One lecture that generated a significant amount of interest was a discussion by Raymond Powrie, MD on the primary care physician’s role in the treatment of depression. “I was struck by the acknowledgement that depression is a universal problem that is present in all cultures, how glad practitioners were to have a clear approach to the problem, and how rewarding it has been for practitioners in Dubai who have been trying to identify and treat patients in a general medicine setting. I had the feeling that medical doctors there have a growing appreciation for their role in this,” said Powrie, who is an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

Anan Nathif, who coordinates DHCC’s CME activities as part of HMI’s team in Dubai, reported that feedback from Practi-Med’s participants was overwhelmingly positive. “The range of participants was broad and included specialists, general practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, and medical students. All commended the quality of the talks and speakers, and felt more programs are needed,” she said.

(Originally published in HMI World: (www.hmiworld.org) January/February 2005)