MedicalMissions.com Podcast

Short-term missions offer a unique opportunity for sustained spiritual formation away from the distractions of a busy life in the U.S., in a setting where the traveler is often far removed from their comfort zone and power zone. This workshop presents ideas and guidelines for the trip leader in recruiting, selecting, and preparing trip participants to act as the Body of Christ in their service, an...

Most people enter cross-cultural ministry partnerships with the best of intentions. However, often when conflict arises it is because different beliefs and assumptions about how money should be spent or managed have not been properly examined. Financial stewardship and accountability frequently mean different things to people from diverse cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this workshop is to he...

Everyone who has been on a medical mission has some embarrassing and/or hilarious stories of cultural insensitivity or language blunders. Sometimes the events are just funny. Sometimes they can seriously compromise the intended impact of the whole mission, including our Christian witness. This session offers perspective, spiritual grounding and practical tools for building healthy relationships, a...

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 of lack of mentors—and the lack of appreciation of the resources that are available to fan into flame serving in medical mission. What is a mentor? What are the resources available? Come to this session to f...

Healthcare missionaries serving in emerging cultures confront a complex set of ethical issues that may not be obvious at first glance. This session will discuss the unique ethical challenges of ministering to underserved populations, with an emphasis on resource limitations, cultural taboos, and human justice.

If God has been nudging you about serving in missions, you have many questions: How do I know I’m called? How do I pick a mission agency? What training should I get? What about raising support? What is it like to raise your kids overseas? How can I avoid burnout? Using his experience and lots of stories, Dr. Stevens will answer these questions and others at this popular breakout session.

Dental Surgery can be particularly challenging on the mission field. Often dealing with cross cultural and language communication problems, the proper positioning of the patient, proper light, possibly no x-rays, limited or no suction, sometimes limited trained assistance, and possibly not all the equipment that you might need. Many dentists do only limited oral surgery in their practices. The cha...

The global epidemic of HIV/AIDS presents enormous challenges to the family, community, church, and health care workers. Equipping one another to prevent HIV transmission, reducing stigma and risky sexual behaviors and supporting all levels of the family and community to provide care is a calling for Christian nurses. This session will explore the realities of responding to that call across many na...

This session will provide a brief introduction to the Islamic faith, culture, and worldview of health and illness. Particular emphasis will be given to obstetrical and women’s health issues encountered among an unreached people of a Southwest Asian country where the speaker, a Family Nurse Practitioner, is presently involved in ministry. Equipped with a general knowledge about the culture of Islam...

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.

Recent research in the long term effects of retaining versus removing third molars has been extensive and has had some surprising results. This session will review the development of third molars, associated pathology, indications for their removal and treatment with a focus on their management in resource limited situations.

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...

It is estimated that 3-10% of people in the developing world are disabled. The care of disabled children in Sub Saharan Africa is nearly nonexistent. Africa lacks sufficient specialists to provide reasonable care for the vast majority of disabled children, and very few training programs are training such specialists in Africa. A remedial solution for surgical care is necessary in order to provide...

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...

The pediatric pain control breakout session will cover how to determine the best drugs for basic pain control as well as procedural pain control. How to access goals of pain control will be covered. Discuss current available drugs and their potential risks and benefits. Discuss assessing the patient pre-procedure to determine if planned sedation/pain control is safe, including appropriate NPO guid...

This breakout session will focus on Challenges and Changes as we move forward in Global Pediatrics touching briefly on patient care, research, and teaching. Will include ways to link and dialog and work together with our international partners

Care of burned patients in the developing world with special emphasis on Nursing care will be discussed. Oral rehydration techniques and other necessary adaptations for appropriate care in limited resource environments will be presented.

This workshop will explore the challenges frequently encountered as well as how to assess and deal with health issues that specifically occur with human trafficking in low resourced areas.

Advanced reproductive technology can accomplish many things today to produce children but the salient question is should these things be done? In a country with minimal regulation available, practitioners must thoughtfully determine their own position on these issues based upon their spiritual beliefs and ethical values. This workshop will update attendees on the types of things being proposed or...

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.