MedicalMissions.com Podcast

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...

As therapists working in developed countries we often have resources including specialized treatments and innovative state of the art equipment that allows us to do many special things for our patients. However when the therapist is in a situation where the resources become limited it takes planning and creativity to be able to meet the needs of your patients. In this session you will be presented...

Fever is a common and recurrent diagnostic dilemma for medical providers in tropical regions or those who see international travelers. Patterns of fever and associated clinical findings often provide important clinical clues to direct diagnostic testing and therapy. Join in an interactive session that will review the causes of fever in various parts of the world. This session will focus on the dia...

Infertility rates are highest in low resource countries and unfortunately these are the same areas where a woman's worth is frequently based upon her her child bearing abilities. This session will look at common causes of infertility and available treatment options

Travel to developing countries exposes one personally and professionally to new and unfamiliar diseases. This session will review real cases illustrating common tropical worms and germs. Join in the group discussion and diagnostic challenge.

Opportunities for mentoring , discipling and learning from majority world healthcare leaders of today and tomorrow have never been more available or diverse. Ministering healing in Jesus’ name can occur within CANs; within national nursing, medical and other allied health schools; and within a growing number of Christian university-based ,health professions schools. Making a long term commitment a...

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.

The missionary nurse role has changed over the years from 'doer' of nursing to 'teacher' of nursing. Educational requirements and practice requirements have increased thus the missionary nurse must allow of increased preparation time. Language learning is a critical component of nursing and missions.

When the cultures of the care provider and the recipient of care differs, frequently it is difficult to complete an accurate assessment. Nurses need to be skilled at assessing clients from a variety of ethnicities, countries, and cultures. Elements of assessment will be described and ideas for overcoming potential barriers will suggested.

Traditional short term medical mission trips involve doing much work and seeing many patients. Many of the procedures can be taught to indigenous believers, allowing them an opportunity to learn new skills that can be used long after the team has gone home. These skills in turn allow access to areas of outreach not available to foreign workers. This breakout explores methods in use today that allo...

If you are ministering in a Muslim community, it is imperative to understand the cultural implications of Islam. This session will address those implications from a speaker that grew up in those communities.

It is the general idea that the short-term missions is one sided. Often creating dependency- teams from USA go to the underdeveloped country to help and bring short term relief and address felt needs in the comminutes of the countries they visit. While that may be true, ‘passing on of skills’ showcases how the trend can be reversed and these very missions can impact providing long term and sustain...

Can a church in a poor and vulnerable community run a sustainable healthcare ministry in her community? Yes, if the church and short term medical team are well prepared for ministry. Here are the steps we have taken in Ghana to enable local churches run sustainable healthcare ministries as result of short term medical teams equipping them.

Both parenthood and missions are God's idea. But can these two crucial roles fit well together? In this session, a couple with 8 years experience raising children on the mission field will share insights into balancing parenthood and missions.

“Prepare your shields, both large and small, and march out for battle! Harness the horses, mount the steeds! Take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears, put on your armor!” Jeremiah 46 If God has called you to be a healthcare missionary, you will experience one of the most satisfying – and challenging – careers in the world. You will be a warrior for God in a hostile land. Like any so...

"A disciple is not above his teacher...if they persecuted me, they will persecute you...if they have called the head of the house Beelzebub, what will they call the members of his house?" Since Genesis 3, all human beings have suffered, but disciples of Jesus, especially those who seek to glorify Him as missionaries, inevitably enter into His peculiar sufferings: loneliness, alienation,...

2 Kings chapter 2 through 8 list 16 miracles related to the prophets Elijah and Elisha. 2 Kings 7:2 says something I have frequently found myself saying: "Even if the Lord opened the window of Heaven might this thing be..." Or translated it might say "That couldn't happen" or "God can't possibly do that." My stories of God's goodness and answers to prayer...

Dr. Ralph Winter said that for every 100 people who made a mission commitment at some point in their lives, only one made it to the mission field. Why? For lack of mobilizers! The same can be said for lack of mentors. What is a mentor? What do mentors offer prospective long-term medical missionaries? Come to this session if you desire a mentor or if you desire to become a mentor. Before the sessio...

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...

We would all like to believe that as we reach out to share our medical expertise and the love and the compassion of Christ we will all be safe, but is there any place in which we can be safe today? One question we all have to answer is: Is security the absence of danger or the presence of the Lord. But, being good stewards of the great blessing of volunteers serving the least and the last is our o...

Everyone in every culture loves to share and hear stories - and the Gospel is the story of all stories. The Bible comes complete with stories that show all the different aspects of the Gospel and learning how to use them - that is, doing more than simply reading them out loud is one of the most effective ways to share the story with everyone. There are even ways to share the whole story of the Bib...

This session will share answers on how to select a missions agency. Each person who attends will receive a 3 x 5 card when they enter the room. The moderator John McVay will group and select questions, direct them to appropriate panelists, and receive questions from the floor. Probable topics discussed from questions expected are: agency focus, doctrine, finances, services, leadership, locations,...

In the mission field today, there is no shortage of work that needs to be done. Small minded thinking tells us that we are the only ones trying to accomplish a particular mission or that we are the only ones that can do it right. By working together as the body of Christ, we can accomplish more together than we can alone.

What can we learn from God's word about effectively sharing a vision? What can we learn from recent evidence of ministries who have demonstrated an ability to effectively share a vision? What gets in the way of effectively sharing a vision?

Fund-Raising for Short-term or Long-Term Missions Want to know the key to raising resources for a life-time of ministry or for a short-term mission trip – its Effective Ministry Partnership Development (MPD). We’ll address how correct thinking, biblical principles and practical principles are the key. This session will explain “why people give,” “how to effectively gain their support and involveme...