MedicalMissions.com Podcast

The last contact we have with our patients is often discussing and dispensing their medications. This session will examine barriers and provide strategies to address cross-cultural: communication with patients, issues in appropriate patient medication use, and methods to provide clear instructions when counseling patients on medications.

The needs of long-term expatriate workers are quite different from those of the short-term worker. Long-term strategies include more flexible malaria prophylaxis regimens (covering high risk seasons), self treatment options for diarrhea and malaria, additional disease concerns (Japanese encephalitis, rabies) and dealing with mental health issues such as culture shock and depression.

Caring for Asian patients from other cultures offers some unique challenges, whether these are recent immigrants to the U.S. or patients seen in overseas settings. Language is just the first obstacle and often professional interpreters are a necessity. Cultural expectations differ by country. High context Asian cultures can make it difficult to communicate even after language issues are resolved....

Regardless of your background, short-term and long-term, medical and non-medical mission workers alike are going to be faced with dental emergencies. Determining the course of action, including proper diagnosis and treatment, along with knowing when and where to refer when necessary, is important to patient health. This course will cover potential dental emergencies that may present as well as str...

Abdominal surgery in Africa will focus on the incidence, diagnosis and the medical/surgical management of the most common clinical problems. The availability of medical personnel, facilities, and equipment will be discussed as well as the long-term need for surgical training.

Although largely framed as a legal issue, a social issue, and sometimes a geo-political issue, human trafficking is also a public health issue. Public health approaches consider all of these factors to take local information to make locally-appropriate interventions. It can also take local data to help feed our global pool of knowledge regarding this complex issue. Human Trafficking is both an ind...

In 2010, The Continuing Medical and Dental Education Commission of CMDA approved a working group to investigate the experience of medical missionaries with a view to providing information to assist mission agencies in setting a current and sustainable medical mission strategy. The PRISM (Patterns and Responses in Intercultural Service in Medicine) survey is a research report that summarizes those...

Excellent local training for Christian health professionals is one sure way to improve health services in many developing countries. Local schools, colleges and universities train the entire continuum of health workers – from community-based to specialty medical care professionals. Unfortunately, the quality of training is uneven in these institutions and local professionals may have not fully con...

Frontline health workers are vital to local health systems, as they are often based in the community and come from within the community they serve. They include community health workers, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and others who primarily work at the community level. They help families and individuals connect to health services, and in some cases are capable of providing lifesaving assistance....

This session will be a review of treatment of commonly seen parasitic infections while overseas. The focus will predominantly be on parasitic infections of the gastrointestinal system but will also cover some dermatological infections as well.

Deformities, both congenital and acquired, have a profound and often negative impact in the Emerging World. Deformities may be internal as well as external. Though internal deformities may not be seen they are often more severe and debilitating. The negative effects of external deformities are seen world-wide and in every culture and civilization. In the West, children born with deformities are of...

As a head and neck cancer surgeon, I have served as a volunteer short-term faculty member for the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) in Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Kenya for the past 6 years. In that setting, I have cared for a small cross-section of congenital and neoplastic head and neck tumors. These challenging cases require a high level of technical expertise and equipment as well...

Across United States medical schools, one quarter of medical students participate in international experiences during medical school. Most of these students continue this interest as residents. For students and residents called to international Christian faith-based missions and those exploring such an interest, this high level of general interest has lead to an array of global health opportunitie...

This session will be structured around a panel of veteran missionary surgeons who will each present a case involving a common surgical emergency they have encountered in missions settings. The panel will discuss each case presented, and interactive discussion with the audience will be incorporated. Panelists will be Bill Ardill, Dick Bransford, Peter Chu, and Bruce Steffes, with John Mellinger mod...

In this session, we will cover the interaction of factors affecting nutritional status and the principles for treating severe acute malnutrition. We will also address important vitamin and mineral deficiencies in developing countries.

This session will cover the rationale for a syndromic approach to fever in the tropics. We will consider the causes of 8 common fever syndromes.

At the completion of this session, participants will be aware of: The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs); Primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of disability to achieve the MDGs; Violence, causing/resulting from disability - a new global health priority; Resources related to disability and the MDGs. The Millenium Development Goals are to monitor progress toward a 'World Fit for Children&#...

At the completion of this presentation the participant should be able to: 1.value the importance of health care in trafficked populations 2. identify physical health problems that are common to trafficked individuals 3. identify the mental health consequences of trafficking that may need to be addressed.

The global dental healthcare environment is changing rapidly in many parts of the world and much too slowly in others. These changes impact both our current dental missions efforts as well as provide insight and opportunity into ways the dental profession may continue to increase its Kingdom impact. Learning objectives: 1) Articulate changes in the dental healthcare environment occurring in variou...

Western missions and service agencies have frequently been unknowing victims of their own culture’s values, communication, social norms and worldview as they seek to minister to people in other cultural contexts. Sadly many well-meant ministries and community development programs have floundered due to lack of culturally appropriate design and operation. This is not only true when we cross nationa...

Although the principles of medical and dental care are the same worldwide, the need for translation, existing local health beliefs, customs, teaching methods, and other social and political factors may present barriers which have a significant impact on the effectiveness of efforts to teach healthcare professionals cross-culturally. This session will examine several of these.

This session will compare short term mission efforts which provide direct care to patients in an area to those which provide education and advanced training to healthcare professionals, which most often have a longer term benefit both to those who are taught by these healthcare professionals and to patients needing healthcare in that area.

In 2001, the United Nations formulated eight goals intended, by 2015, to reverse the grinding poverty, hunger and disease that affect billions of people. These goals touch on a web of interwoven factors that contribute to the needlessly desperate circumstances in which many in the world live. As we approach 2015, how are we doing? Why does this matter to medical missions? What might God be calling...

The crucial 1,000 days from the start of a woman’s pregnancy until her child’s 2nd birthday offer a unique window of opportunity to shape healthier and more prosperous futures. The right nutrition during this 1,000 day window can have an enormous impact on a child’s ability to grow, to learn, and rise out of poverty. It can also have a profound effect on the long-term health, sta...

No single factor enhances the likelihood of sustained improvement in the health of a person, family or community more than empowerment: affirming and engaging the dignity, strengths, experience, vision, and resources of those we are called to serve. This session will review the practical as well as biblical and theological reasons that empowerment is an essential ingredient in every Christian heal...