Medical

American health care missionaries outside the US need to keep their US health care licenses current in order to practice in some countries, as well as they desire to keep abreast of the latest developments in their field. This need and desire requires a significant amount of continuing education, often 40 hours every two years, which is difficult to achieve when home in the US on a furlough. The C...

We will discuss the essential of any research project in a low-middle income country including planning a research project, seeking funding, ethical considerations and ethical approval, financial hurdles, cross-cultural challenges, evaluation of the project and publication considerations.

The most common cause for expatriate healthcare professionals to abandon their service in a mission hospital is unresolved conflict with those that they work or live with in community. This session will share proven principles and techniques to resolve conflict that inevitably comes to everyone during their lives.

Dentistry has a great opportunity to reach the least, the last and the lost for the needs are overwhelming and universal. I will use various countries to evaluate and discuss how to take advantage of different opportunities and situations that may be available. It is important for us to discuss and understand the government and the culture and what it entails to move forward on a venture into a cl...

This brief educational breakout session will discuss issues in dysphagia (swallowing disorders) within the acute-care setting. Common and complex dysphagia presentations will be discussed through cases across Cameroon and Kenya. Learners will be exposed to a basic swallowing screening protocol, low-resource dysphagia management and techniques to reduce aspiration pneumonia, as well as basic swallo...

The topic of leadership and conflict management is not typically taught in professional schools but it is present in both group and work environments, including the mission field. In many situations, the medical professional because of their learned status becomes the leader but they do not have the skills to take on this role. This session will provide the participants with some of the skills and...

Abstract: Faith-based medical ministries have substantial opportunities to improve healthcare through biomedical research. Success typically requires collaboration between national, organizational, and expert stakeholders. In this session practical aspects of developing a collaborative research program will be discussed.

Developing a network among like-minded international medical training programs is an important aspect of successfully utilizing medical education as a missions strategy.

Why do we serve? Where should we go? How do we make disciples? Why should we make disciples? What is the purpose of missions? What does it mean to be missional? How can I go from theoretical to practical? All of these questions, and more, will be discussed in this workshop, using THE source material – the Bible!

Shawnee Christian Healthcare Center went from a concept initiated around a conference table to a full FQHC in ten years. This session will review the many advantages of starting a center from scratch while at the same time looking retrospectively at the pitfalls that can be avoided in starting a center from this perspective.

Dr. Ralph Winter, founder of the US Center for World Mission and Perspectives… 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...

More than half of the Middle East population, 54% are under the age of 25 including 90 million adolescents (10-19 years of age). The growth spurt challenges of the second decade of life is mounted with early sexual debut and early marriages. Consequent unintended pregnancies and child birth, the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS threaten the fragile adolescent still...

There are over 50 million disabled people in Africa. 18-20% would likely improve with some surgical care. Africa has insufficient surgical expertise to provide for this need, and will likely not have sufficient sub specialists for 50-100 years. An alternate form of limited training is needed both for the surgical and the support needs of the disabled. Care for the disabled opens spiritual doors fo...

Cross cultural health care service calls for a spectrum of specialized knowledge, skills and attitudes. How does a potential worker equipped him/herself to serve effectively and thrive in such a demanding role as medical missionaries? We will focus on the key role of mentoring in cross cultural training, and discuss how to find mentors who can facilitate one's development. The selection of an...

The harvest in plentiful in middle east missions. More than 90 million adolescents and youth live in the Middle East today. Adolescents are a key population group representing a triple return of investment, yet they are uniquely neglected in the regional challenges they face. Today, adolescents in the Middle East confront significant health, development, education, employment and socio-economic ch...

Christianity and culture have had a complex and adversarial relationship since the beginning. Early Christians were counter-cultural—and had an immense impact on the peoples around them. Likewise, medical missionaries have deeply influenced the lives of the peoples where they served over the past two centuries. How? At the same time, they were sensitive to the culture around them, learning languag...

This will be a practical application of principles for the treatment of common neck and back pain for the non-Physical Therpist medical professional.

Responding to human need in a way that supports human dignity, and avoids paternalism is the foundation of learning to help without hurting. Founded on this understanding, the International Code of Conduct, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response, are the most internationally recognized sets of common principles and universal minimum standards in humanitarian response....

Medical missions are always under resourced and Doctors and nurses struggle to cope with the enormous need with limited resources. This presentation looks at generating creativity to fuel innovation as a possible Christian response to this problem. If medical mission work is important and if God has called us and if we do not seem to have obvious resources then what God is saying is “Get creative”...

Where you choose to serve in healthcare missions will depend on your preparedness, your call, and your goals. This workshop will help you determine how to identify service opportunities that are most likely to match up with your call and your goals. You will be given a variety of tools to use to prepare for service, and to improve your preparedness as you serve.

Faith-based organizations provide up to 70% or more of healthcare in some countries. They often work in remote locations among neglected people without any access to healthcare. Should faith-based hospitals and health programs partner with local governments and other actors in the public sector? Will collaboration compromise witness and mission? Or can collaboration expand resources, opportunity a...

In response to the increasing need for emergency medical and surgical care immediately after major global disasters, Samaritans Purse has developed an Emergency Field Hospital with the ability to deploy rapidly worldwide. The field hospital is both modular, and utilizes a single solution that, despite the type of disaster, will be logistically deployed rapidly to meet the immediate and unique medi...

Knowledge of good health practices often does not change health behaviors. This session will share proven ways to motivate people to change their health behaviors using non-financial incentives as demonstrated in a community health program that has changed the health of 1.2 million people. These techniques are applicable in both the USA or abroad.

This session will cover the main areas of pediatric development and important milestones to look for when assessing the pediatric patient for delays.

This session will have an emphasis on medical mission organizational mission true behavior, and will look at why Christian organizations or institutions, including those committed to using medical missions as a tool for gospel outreach, drift away from or sometimes shift their purpose away from their original intention.