Around 600 delegates will attend seminars and workshops held by 32 regional and international speakers at the 4th Annual Seha Research Conference set to be held at the Yas Viceroy Hotel in Abu Dhabi on December 10 and 11.

Over the course of two days, leading international experts in both medical and clinical research informatics will focus their attention on how medical informatics can be used to improve patient outcomes as well as assess information and knowledge needs of healthcare professionals, refine clinical processes, develop, implement, and refine clinical decision support systems, develop health informatics tools, and lead improvement of clinical information systems.

Saif Bader Al Quabisi, managing director of Seha, said: “Seha’s vision is for world-class healthcare for our customers and communities served. We will achieve goal this by continuously improving our healthcare delivery systems to recognised international standards.”

“These standards are constantly being updated and improved through medical informatics which fuel clinical decision making and stimulate medical research by organising data gathered from patient experiences and outcomes.”

“We place a significant value on such information and have invested heavily in our own health information system for our patients to help achieve these improved results and increase patient satisfaction,” he added.

The conference is designed to facilitate the discussion of the science of medical informatics through lectures and workshops led by knowledgeable regional and international experts in the field. The seminars, lectures and presentations will provide attendees insights into how informatics is used to achieve operational and clinical excellence.  

Presenters will share experiences and describe how intuitive diagnosis based on empirical data and critical information access results in more efficient operations, reduced costs, improved outcomes and enhanced patient satisfaction, the statement said.

Regional speakers include Dr Ali Al Obaidli, chief clinical officer, Seha, Abu Dhabi; Dr Matthew Morgan, vice president, patient experience and outcomes, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Dr Greg Raglow, group health informatics director, Seha, Abu Dhabi.

Carl Stanifer, CEO, Seha, said: “Medical or health informatics is now vital in the healthcare industry and has improved not only patient safety but enhanced clinical outcomes and helped control costs.”

“As you can imagine, the amount of data on any one patient under treatment is significant. A patient’s history can stretch over many months or years and cover findings and data on many tests, exams and procedures.”

“Understanding the patient’s experience and being able to compare that patient’s data with data on a particular cohort of similarly afflicted patients, gives the clinicians insight into treatment modalities that others have found improve outcomes in similar circumstances,” Stanifer said.

“In the past, these kinds of expectations were more difficult to achieve as computer systems and programmes to organise, store, and reclaim medical and patient information were being developed and had not yet matured. The robust nature of available clinical information has fuelled the science of informatics and given us great insight into better ways delivering the healing arts.”

“Seha is committed to improved outcomes and better patient satisfaction. One of our strategic priorities is research and education,” Dr Obaidli said. “The Seha Research Conference is a demonstration of our commitment to that priority and our commitment to our patients and customers.”

Seha is one of only a few regional health systems in the world that has a complete Health Information System linking all of its hospitals, clinics and labs together, permitting a clinician treating a patient in one clinic or hospital to look up that patient’s record for treatment delivered in another Seha healthcare center.  

The patient’s entire information including x-rays, lab tests and physician notes are all available online to authorised medical personnel. It recently announced the new brand name for its hospital information system, now known as Malaffi, meaning ‘my file’.

Malaffi further enhances the quality of care delivered by Seha to its customers while protecting patient confidentiality and privacy.   

The 4th Annual Seha Research Conference will see experts and researchers present their views on the latest findings, best practices and emerging trends in quality and research and abstracts by healthcare professionals throughout the UAE. – TradeArabia News Service