Medical

Review of the literature about burnout in overseas workers will include general demographics, incidence, prevalence, risk factors, and primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention interventions in a bio/psycho/social/spiritual model

This session will focus on positioning, interventions and education needed for optimizing the care for non-ambulatory patients. Specific education will be given on serial casting, seating evaluations, and basic interventions to improve quality of life.

Medical missions are often challenging because of cross-cultural exposure to unfamiliar diseases in settings with limited diagnostic resources. Common tropical illnesses are generally unfamiliar to US trained providers. This session will present real cases from Africa and Asia focusing on tropical skin diseases, HIV, diarrhea, fever and malnutrition. History and visual clues along with simple lab...

In many countries there are large numbers of blind people whose sight could be restored with a low cost effective surgery. Many other could have avoided going blind if their problem had been recognized early and prevented. In this session we will discuss why many of these people may never get the eye surgery they need and how effective community eye care can change this situation in much of the de...

Many Non-Surgeons are called upon to manage trauma or minor surgical procedures in the ER or clinic. This is particularly true in the developing world. Accurate suturing skills are an important part of wound closure and management which can be performed very well with a little training in good technique. This session will include a discussion of: • the basics of wound healing • correct knot tying...

Nearly all global under-five mortality (U5M) (99%) occurs in developing countries. The leading causes of U5M worldwide, pneumonia and diarrheal illness, account for 1.396 and 0.801 million annual deaths, respectively. While important advances in prevention are being made, advanced life support (ALS) management in children in the developing world is often incomplete due to limited resources. Existi...

Triage by definition means that resources are too limited to handle the extent of the disease being presented. It is always a difficult and stressful situation for the healthcare provider who sometimes must allow some to die so that others might live. Practicing in the developing world, with its much more severe limitations, often changes the application of triage principles in a way which increas...

Abdominal pain in the tropics includes many of the same diseases as elsewhere but there are conditions that are unique. Using a case-based approach, some of the more common of the conditions that cause acute abdominal pain will be discussed. Approaches to diagnosis and treatment, especially those that are not obvious to the practitioner from N. America, will be discussed in an interactive style.

Teaching Life Support in resource limited ares, Why, What and How. In this session we will discuss what is appropriate to teach in resource limmited areas, who should be taught and proven methods for teaching. Experiences will be shared from Ecuador, Cameroon, Kenya and Nepal and Madagascar

Tuberculosis remains a global public health threat. This session will provide public health updates from the field on some new approaches to TB diagnosis and treatment in developing countries, as well as some recent advances on such topics as child TB, community-based TB, TB-HIV, and MDR-TB.

This talk will address the current trends and updates on global (outside the USA) human trafficking issues. Themes and opportunities pertinent to health professionals will be highlighted.

The PRISM Study is a research report by the Medical Missions Survey Working Group of the Continuing Medical and Dental Education Commission of the Christian Medical and Dental Association. The survey was administered between 2010 and 2011 and represents hundreds of current full-time long-term medical missionaries. "It is hoped that this report will help missions organizations to be more strat...

Storm the Gates of Hell

What Will it Take?

Only a small minority of healthcare students who aspire to be missionaries actually serve long-term. One in five medical missionaries don’t stick with it for more than four years. There are daunting obstacles to going and to staying. Using both research data and the presenter’s experiences, this session will identify the best strategies for preparation that lead to long-term success.

Objectives: (1) Describe the six key indigenous partner groups needed for effective medical missions (2) Discuss three common challenge areas for medical missions: Missiologic Point of View, Curative Care Perspective, Surgical Care (3) Explore WHO guidelines relevent to the use of oral medications in medical missions

Glenn Schwartz will speak about the issue of healthy sustainability in the Christian movement. He gives historical insights into how the dependency syndrome in cross-cultural missions develops and, more importantly, how it can be overcome. This presentation will also include several short case studies about mission-established hospitals and how they moved toward local sustainability. His primary e...

Medical missions is constantly changing. The enterprise of medical missions has brought health and opened the doors for the gospel in countless countries. This rich history continues today. In Africa, forty to seventy percent of health services are still provided by church and mission facilities. How do we build on the achievements of yesteryears and achieve success in the years to...

Buddhists in East Asia largely believe in one of the dominant Buddhist traditions, animism and ancestor worship. They believe in karma, the moral law of cause and effect which demands that every soul suffer for its past “sins;” so there is no value in alleviating suffering. While very few Buddhists have come to Christ through the direct preaching of the gospel, some have responded to the compassio...

Missionaries are sent to reproduce themselves spiritually. Yet how do you do that in the midst of a busy clinical and hospital schedule? This seminar will equip you with a biblical model and a simple time-sensitive plan to build and multiply the number of Christ-followers and spiritual leaders among your patients, colleagues, and others on your mission field.

The Vanga Hospital began in a rural area of western Congo in 1920. Beginning in 1961 the hospital grew into a comprehensive and sustainable Christian health service run by the Congolese church in partnership with a missionary staff. The health system includes: (1) A 400 bed multi-specialty teaching hospital (2) A school for training nurse practitioners and nurse midwives (3) A widespread system of...

How to have a long term impact with a short term medical team? Philosophy of Ministry, National Partnerships, Careful Preparation, Effective Clinic Outreach and Post Trip Attention all are critical ingredients! . To Cover Philosophy of Ministry, Partnership with Local Host Ministry, Preparing and Recruiting, Local Host Responsibility, Arrival and Clinic Week, Extracurricular Activities, Leave Taki...

There are inherent dangers that come with following Jesus into a ministry of medicine. God's ways are not the ways of men and all too often health care professionals are slowly led astray from their original intent and calling to follow Jesus into a life of healing. God's heart is to bring restoration to a fallen world. But God's purpose of restoration can easily get lost as we enter i...

Identifying and using local resources to address both nutritional and economic needs of you community. Emphasis will be place on nutrious tropical plants that can be used as perennial vegetables and have proven health benefits.