Medical

The Ten Questions Everyone Asks About Career Missions: How do I pick a mission agency? How do I know I'm "called?" What about raising children overseas? How can I avoid burnout? These and other questions are answered in this popular talk illustrated with real and sometimes humorous real life stories.

Should you do a domestic or international rotation while in training? When? Where? How do you make it happen? All are questions mission-minded healthcare professionals ask as they explore opportunities to serve during training. Join us as we discuss domestic and international locations, best practices and steps you can take in selecting an opportunity that fits your goals, timeframe, skills, and b...

This document is for students desiring to prepare for or persevere through medical school, that they would be spiritually ready for their marathon in a way frees them for Christ's mission today and decades from now.

Surviving Culture Shock addresses the stresses that everyone feels when crossing cultural boundaries for short or long term. The ethnocentrism that is true of every culture results in unfair judgment of other cultures and impedes effective interaction. We will explore this dynamic and how to minimize it. We also explain the three stages of the culture shock cycle– tourist, rejection, and adaptatio...

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 soldier, you need a time of preparation – what the military refers to as “boot camp” – and that time should begin before you enter your mission field. The time to live, think and pray like a missionar...

PRAYER AS MEDICINE: Practical methods & panel discussion regarding personal experiences and best practices in praying for patients during a medical missions outreach. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ Luke 10:9 (NIV) Jesus commanded his disciples to “heal the sick.” As medical professionals involved in missions, we take this command seriously...

Single medical professionals are resilient in a cross-cultural setting and have the opportunity to be highly effective in service. The greatest challenges impact the personal home life of the individual. Applications to increase resiliency in the personal life will be explored with attention given to the relational and sexual domains of life. The workshop will include a presentation followed by de...

Session Description: Widely acceptable in Middle Eastern countries, gender based violence (GBV) in the region is far from being well documented. Inherent socio-cultural norms in most settings, contribute to eclectic tolerance of GBV, a fatalistic attitude and helplessness among victims. Women, adolescents and other vulnerable population groups, especially internally displaced people (IDP) and refu...

Eighty percent of the cases of cervical cancer are found in poorly developed countries. There is not adequate screening available to diagnose precancerous lesions and treat them. Many lives can be saved using methods that do not rely highly on technology advanced training. This session will describe the scope of the problem, the tools available for diagnosis and treatment and the ones that would b...

Every year 3.6 million girls in Africa and the Middle East undergo a procedure in which their external genitalia is cut and sometimes sewn. This cultural practice can lead to numerous complications throughout a female’s life, especially during childbirth. This session will focus on the care of women who have experienced female genital cutting, while also discussing cultural attitudes and eradicati...

Malaria has been a health threat for hundreds of years, yet continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Using case presentations, and drawing from the speaker’s international experience, this workshop will explore what’s new in malaria diagnosis and treatment and consider the emotional, mental, social and cultural as well as medical imp...

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.

A woman in the United States often has 15 visits to her healthcare provider and as many laboratory evaluations during the course of her pregnancy. Is this a realistic model of care in the developing world? This session will discuss the essential components of antenatal care that can be practically delivered in low and middle-income countries, with the goal of reducing maternal and perinatal morbid...

The principles of abdominal surgery are not different in Africa, but the presentation, available diagnostic tools and frequency of certain etiologies is significantly different. The approach and therapy the more common causes of the acute abdomen will be the primary diseases discussed.

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.

Chronic hepatitis B and C cause cirrhosis and liver cancer, and are major causes of death throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Advances in the diagnosis and management of these chronic viral infections are beginning to impact patient outcomes in low and middle income countries. In this session current hepatitis global guidelines will be discussed, as well as practical issues and new solutions f...

This session will describe a variety of opportunities to reach out internationally through educating healthcare professionals desiring advanced skills and knowledge. This will include not only specialty specific opportunities, but those related to faculty development, bioethics, advanced life support training, and other topics.

Overview and update of Tuberculosis in global health, augmented with cases from around the world.

of the 6.3 million children under the age of five who died in 2013, 44% (2.761 million) were neonates (defined as age 0-28 days). Over the past decade, neonatal mortality decreased at an annual rate of 2.9% compared to 4.9% in children aged 1-59 months. This smaller reduction in under-five mortality (U5M) among neonates is a significant contributor to the worldwide failure to achieve Millennium De...

Why is HIV/AIDS still a concern on the mission field? HIV prevalence and AIDS death rates have declined in many countries, yet HIV/AIDS continues to have tremendous medical, emotional, economic and social challenges. Using case presentations, this workshop will explore HIV/AIDS treatment and care drawing from the speaker’s experience in Africa.

Contemporary criticism by global health experts of much of short term medical missions activity (Dead Aid, When Helping Hurts) is valid. We have a tendency to justify use of US diagnostic and treatment guidelines in low income countries as equitable while demonstrably unreasonable and harmful. Careful consideration of the whole care process from care access to care follow-up including all costs in...

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...

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa not only challenged governments, NGOs, and health systems, but had ripple effects including the closure of hospitals and clinics and loss of health care workers. Over the past year, training has taken place, hospitals have reopened, and survivors are being treated. However, Liberia's Medical College remains closed (as of June 2015), and many other areas are st...

This talk will review common parasitic diseases in the tropics. The classification, presentation and basic treatment of these syndromes will be discussed in a case-based format. Visual recognition of findings will be part of this interactive session, using an audience response system. We will focus mostly on classic skin, abdominal, and pulmonary syndromes. We will also discuss some beneficial eff...

Effective short-term healthcare missions requires actions that facilitate long-term change in the local setting - in healthcare services, in combating poverty, and in addressing spiritual needs. Unprepared short-term teams often do more damage than good. This presentation will provide strategies and tactics to properly prepare a short-term healthcare team and to build a relationship with a nationa...