Education & Training Overview

Communications are a vital part of IRHC’s priorities for its system of remote healthcare coming only second after training and education. Over the years communications have been researched and improved and it is now accepted that the use of sophisticated audio-visual communications or telemedicine is equally important in medical provision and in training and education for remote sites.

Initially pioneered by Memorial University St John’s Newfoundland the offshore centres of the Aberdeen Universities developed the concept in the healthcare of North Sea structures and Antarctic bases and demonstrated its use in transcontinental transmission of both clinical and educational material. Further development with the UAE University allowed undergraduate teaching in pathology to be provided from Aberdeen to the UAE University and other locations where there was a problem in carrying out post-mortem examinations.

From that point a system of supervision of higher degrees was developed by such means whereby both MScs and PhDs could be obtained in Kuwait and in the UAE with minimal time spent in UK. It is also possible to attend and present papers at meetings in other continents from a remote site and this has been pioneered between the UAE and UK in medical areas. The Aberdeen Universities are foremost in the provision of sophisticated levels of distance learning and many of these courses can be transmitted to distant sites by tele-education which requires only a laptop at the distant site. Such courses may be credit rated and can lead to a certificate following a short course or a diploma or degree following an accumulation of sufficient credit rated courses. Such an approach is suitable for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and this is another area where the IRHC has special interest, expertise and academic associations. For further information on tele-education and its potential, contact tele-education@irhc.co.uk.