Goals and Expectations

As this is my first participation in an international meeting with the Quebec delegation, I have to admit my expectations are not very clear. But hearing all the wonderful stories and experiences that other delegates have been sharing makes me certain that will be an inspiring, but also possibly overwhelming, experience to live for the first time. We have met on numerous occasions before leaving, discussed schedules, agendas, policies, individuals roles and exchanged advice, but now is the time to see what the March Meeting really looks like!

Even though I do not have a clear picture yet, here are some of my goals for the meeting:

1)     In the pre-GA, I will be participating in the Disaster Risk Management workshop. In this workshop, I am hoping to:

1. Learn more about the reality of disaster risk management from a perspective that is specific to healthcare workers and future physicians. I have a background in disaster humanitarian response, but this pre-GA will be an opportunity to learn about it in a way that is more relevant to my future medical profession.
2. Meet other motivated medical students interested in disaster risk management from across the world, and learn about their perspective and ideas on the topic, namely the importance of the field in their medical curricula are projects that are already being implemented in their countries.
3. Meeting students and professionals who are highly involved in disaster risk management, to come up with and share ideas to implement training opportunities in Quebec. Get to know other students interested in implementing similar projects to establish future communication with them.

2)     In the GA, I will be part of the SCORE (Standing Committee on Research Exchange) workshops. During this week, I am hoping to:

1. Better understand the way the database works, especially the plan of database migration. This has been an issue for quite a while now, and both the coordinators in Quebec and students participating in the exchange have questions that are left unanswered. Through my active participation in the GA, I hope to bring an answer to all those questions.
2. Meet NOREs from other countries and promote the high-quality research projects we have in Quebec. Jouhayna, the Quebec NORE-out, and I want to strengthen the existing exchange partnerships we have with highly demanded countries in Quebec, as well as expand our list of countries by establishing contact and negotiating contracts with new NOREs.  It will also be helpful to put a face on the names of other NOREs we only know through numerous emails!
3. Learn more about social programs implemented by other NMOs to improve the one we are starting this year in Quebec. In the past, we have focused on academic quality and logistics, but an important field to start developing now is our social program. After my return, I will be in contact with Ixchel, our social program coordinator, to share the ideas I will have gained during the GA.