The Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, designated WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Professionals Education and Research
The World Health Organisation has designated Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics a WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Professionals Education and Research. In doing so, WHO will be drawing on the Department’s expertise and experience in the field. The Department will be working to primarily support WHO Europe’s Human Resources for Health programme.
Through this designation the institution has been recognised as having a high scientific and technical standing at national and international levels accompanied by high quality scientific and technical leadership.
The official launch was held on 30 May 2018 at the University’s Valletta Campus and was supported by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, The Hon. Chris Fearne.
The event was opened with the screening of the ‘Voices from the Region video’ showcasing University of Malta Students as the health professionals of the future. This was a previous WHO project coordinated by the Department and initially shown at the at 67th Regional Committee for Europe meeting in 2017.
The opening address was delivered by Prof. Maria Cordina, who has been appointed Head, WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Professionals Education and Research. She outlined the global challenges facing health systems in having a sustainable workforce with the ability to respond to the changing needs of the community and explained how the Centre aims to support WHO through working on transformative education for health professionals, thereby enhancing the alignment between education and training institutions and health services. She further went on to explain how the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics has the advantage of Therapeutics has the advantage of coordinating or delivering the pharmacology and therapeutics to all courses who require knowledge of this subject, thereby having the advantage of interacting with students from diverse disciplines.
The Department has introduced methods to foster inter-professional learning, where by a student not only identifies their contribution to the safe and effective use of medicines but also appreciates the contribution of the other healthcare professionals. This, coupled with the same core group of lectures teaching the subject, enables the transmission of the same message to students and promotes the use of a common language when dealing with medicines. It thereby enhances effective communication between the different professions and enables them to work better as a team. This leads to a more efficient health care system and better care for patients.
Prof. Cordina went on to explain the aims of the Collaborating Centre which are to:
- support WHO by conducting research, generating evidence on health professionals education
- offer technical assistance on education of health professionals to improve health literacy and patient safety
- participate in jointly planned WHO meetings, promote and disseminate WHO policies and documents.
The Rector of The University, Professor Alfred Vella, gave a short address stating that through the designation of this Collaborating Centre and entrusting the Department with a programme of work, WHO has recognised UM’s international standards of education. He further proceed to say how the University of Malta, and in this case the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics within the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, is ‘setting standards with regards to how to create education of excellence’. He concluded by stating that he hopes that the work will be of benefit not only to Malta, but also to all those countries who collaborate with us.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Heath the Hon Chris Fearne, described how over the years the relationship with WHO has evolved from one where Malta was primarily the recipient of support to one where Malta is offering support and expertise to WHO technical programmes. He was pleased to see that the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics is setting standards on how students should be taught. He emphasised that this Centre will contribute to putting Malta on the Medical Map.
The event came to a close with the presentation of the official WHO designation letter to the Rector.
Photo credit: DOI: Kevin Abela
Photo credit: DOI: Kevin Abela