Bioethics

Why do Christians suffer? What made the Apostle's such effective missionaries? There are almost as many answers and opinions about suffering as there are Christians. To some suffering is just part of living in a fallen world. It is to be avoided if at all possible and, if necessary, to be endured with Jesus’ help until we escape this life and get to heaven. Others may think it is all fro...

Be missional! How do you keep up with the demands of ministry while balancing the needs of family, not to mention your own needs? How do you keep doing more with less? How do you protect yourself from burnout while advocating for the least of these? How do you establish boundaries without neglecting the needs of your community? These are some of the questions Dr. Thomas hopes to explore as he shar...

Health professionals in all settings should take a history from their patient(s). National guidelines in the U.S. recommend a spiritual assessment be included with most or all patients. Yet, surveys show that over 95% of patients say that no health professional has ever inquired of their spiritual or religious beliefs. Furthermore, most health professionals indicate that they never been taught how...

In recent years there has been a tsunami of healthcare volunteers going into the developing world; both faith-based and humanitarian. Recent estimates tell us that 29% of students enrolled in medical schools participate in some type of short-term global health project prior to graduation. Dental, nursing, and allied health schools are also beginning to follow suit. This workshop will review some o...

This presentation will reflect on Selling Out for God, Growing Spiritually, Growing Relationally, and Giving God our Best – thoughts on my 30 years as a missionary nurse in Uganda, Mississippi and as NCF/USA Missions Director.

This presentation is for those working in a mission hospital which has no ethical review process in place for potential research involving humans. Mission hospitals (and Christians everywhere) should have the highest ethical standards when involving patients and others in research.

The US is a much overlooked mission field. 96M people in America still live in areas designated as "medically underserved". All of those areas are communities where poverty is rampant and resources are low. Not only are those areas of great need, they are areas of tremendous opportunity where the harvest is ripe for the gospel. The director of CCHF will share an overview of the issues im...

We will discuss the essential of any research project in a low-middle income country including planning a research project, seeking funding, ethical considerations and ethical approval, financial hurdles, cross-cultural challenges, evaluation of the project and publication considerations.

Abstract: Faith-based medical ministries have substantial opportunities to improve healthcare through biomedical research. Success typically requires collaboration between national, organizational, and expert stakeholders. In this session practical aspects of developing a collaborative research program will be discussed.

Christianity and culture have had a complex and adversarial relationship since the beginning. Early Christians were counter-cultural—and had an immense impact on the peoples around them. Likewise, medical missionaries have deeply influenced the lives of the peoples where they served over the past two centuries. How? At the same time, they were sensitive to the culture around them, learning languag...

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons(IDP’s) face significant challenges to their health and well-being that are unique, due to lack of necessary resources including food, water, sanitation, shelter, security and healthcare. Caring for people in these situations requires an understanding of their unique needs as well as having realistic goals regarding what can and cannot be done for the...

Whether you see yourself as a leader or not, you play a critical role in determining the success of your experiences and those around you. How you plan, recruit, and execute your Short Term Trip strategy will impact your entire church/organization and any trip participants... the ripples of which you may never fully know. Don't have a Short Term Trip strategy yet? We can help you think through...

Every person has a worldview, a deep sense of what is real and how the world works. What we believe and value and what we do and say are shaped by our worldviews. All cross-cultural ministry brings us into different worldviews in missions. Our approaches to healthcare ministries whether in our home country or another are liberated and limited by (1) our own worldviews (2) our awareness of our worl...

Spiritual formation is a way of describing the life-long journey of becoming who God created us to be. That’s the essence of being a “disciple” or learner. Our experience in healthcare ministry continues to "form" in us the ability to love God with all our heart, mind and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. In this break out, we will collaboratively identify characteristics of a per...

This session will cover the topic of sourcing medicines for missions. We will discussthe following: counterfeit medication, substandard medication, risks and benefits of obtaining medication in the united states and transporting it overseas versus obtaining the medication in developing nations, how to source medications that will be used in developing nations.

This is a primer of how to get started in palliative care and can be used to teach others as well. There is also a companion Palliative Care Toolkit Trainers Manual available for use with medical missions physician assistants, doctors, and nurses.. Both documents are available in a number of languages.

There is little in the medical literature about applying the basic tenets of medical ethics in resource limited situations common in mission hospitals. For example, healthcare professionals are taught not to attempt medical or surgical interventions they have not be trained to do. That prohibition will be quickly violated when you are the only option for the patient. With real life stories and pra...

Faith-based medical ministries have substantial opportunities to conduct biomedical research that positively impacts the communities they serve. In addition, biomedical research can help mission organizations achieve their strategic goals. In this session missional, ethical, and practical aspects of research in faith-based, developing-world settings will be discussed.

The 2014 Ebola outbreak has already killed more than 4000 people, and the end is not clearly in sight. During this session, we will put Ebola into context of other health problems in Africa and then review the presentations, diagnosis, management, and prevention of this devastating illness. We will also explore ways that we can get involved in battling Ebola, whether near to or far from West Afric...

Suppose you were born in Central Thailand 60 years ago. As a teenager you found a numb spot on your arm, later on your arm became painful and finally your hand was deformed and you couldn’t feel or grip anything. You and your family were frightened. The monks at the Buddhist temple tried to help, but their expensive poultices did not help. Your family loved you, but they felt they had no alternati...

Cross-cultural medical workers are under multiple levels of stress peculiar to their professional roles. They often serve as mental health resources to colleagues and other cross-cultural workers, have difficulty limiting the hours of work with minimal reprieve for rest and restoration. This session will focus on cognitive and behavioral tools that can improve mental and emotional self-care.

many of the consequences of human trafficking have health ramifications, both physical and mental. It is important to be aware of these to help in identification of victims and to meet their health needs

This session will give a general overview of the topic of human trafficking specifically designed for healthcare professionals. It will cover both domestic and international trafficking as well as sex and labor trafficking. The session will also discuss general identifiers of human trafficking, as well as how to prepare to respond to victims of human trafficking in the healthcare setting.

While embarking on a general surgical career as a worker in Africa, I found the breadth of surgical need far beyond my narrow thinking. General surgery gave way to gynecolgy, plastic surgery, orthopedics, urology, and ultimately neurosurgery as pertaining primarily to children with hydrocephalus and spina bifida. The rehab surgery has endured as my focus for the last thirty years. It has been a jo...

This session will outline the advantages of medical education missions compared to direct care missions, give examples of organizations with which attendees can participate in short term medical education missions, identify challenges participants face and ways they can be overcome, and provide examples of the long term impacts recent short term medical education missions have had.