MedicalMissions.com Podcast

Tips on Using Interpreters and Translators in Teaching Internationally

Opportunities are increasing to teach colleagues, students, and others who speak and understand another language in which the teacher is not fluent. Such opportunities require the use of an interpreter. This session will consider: the need for interpreters, training in using them, professional vs. non-professional interpreters, preparing the interpreter for the session's), and the effectiveness of teaching through an interpreter. It will also touch on the use of translators, since they may al...

Indicators of Transformation: Evaluating Holistic Development Programs

Transformation is essentially a God process. Can the less tangible as well as tangible aspects of this process be measured in a meaningful way as we engage in holistic development? This session will present some case studies to help us identify various indicators of transformation and propose models to evaluate holistic development programs.

Case Culturally Based HIV Education

Obedience to God’s laws favors health. This includes laws found in the Bible.

Fighting the Diseases of Poverty

Poverty and health are intimately associated. The nations of poverty are also home to the lowest life expectancy, greatest child mortality, and highest number of preventable deaths. Three interventions are especially effective. First, we must promote economic development, for history demonstrates that as overall income increase so does health status. Second, we must stand against military conflict, for in nations so embattled over 90 percent of deaths are from hunger and infectious diseases. ...

Best Practice in Short Term Medical Missions

How to have a long term impact with a short term medical team? Philosophy of Ministry, National Partnerships, Careful Preparation, Effective Clinic Outreach and Post Trip Attention all are critical ingredients! . To Cover Philosophy of Ministry, Partnership with Local Host Ministry, Preparing and Recruiting, Local Host Responsibility, Arrival and Clinic Week, Extracurricular Activities, Leave Taking/ Farewell/ Re-Entry

Introduction to Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking

This session will introduce the attendee to the topic of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) by giving both a definition and examples of DMST. The session will also include discussion of the predisposing factors toward DMST, recruiting techniques, mindset of the victim, indicators of DMST, and what to do if you encounter a potential victim of DMST.

Blessings of Lifetime Jungle Surgery

Many blessing of career surgical missionary service may not be realized and therefore never enjoyed. Besides meeting unmet surgical and spiritual needs you are overwhelmed with God's provision, protection, direction, and His doing of the impossible.

Q&A Becoming a Medical Missionary

Panel Q&A Becoming a Medical Missionary with two missionary docs and two missionary nurses. This session will share answers to how to become a medical missionary. Each person who attends will receive a 3 x 5 card when they enter the room. The moderator will group and select questions, directs them to appropriate panelists, and receive questions from the floor.

Things They Didn't Teach You in Nursing School

Q&A on Dental Missions

Q&A on Therapy Missions

JAMKHED model

The Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP), Jamkhed, India, has been a pioneer in developing sustainable comprehensive community-based primary health care (CC-BPHC) since 1970, which has empowered communities to address their own health problems and development. Villages are transformed into caring and sharing communities, working together to improve the health of the whole community, especially poor, marginalized and women. Over the years it has continued to be innovative in its work in v...

Q & A: Stories from the Front Lines

Raising Cadavers

A Missionary Life - Is It For You?

This session answers the 10 basic questions most often asked by those considering career missionary service.

What are the Different Foundations for Healthcare & Medicine

This workshop will discuss the differences between provision of community health and coping with individual diseases via cure, relief or palliation. The ethics of the two systems are quite different and raise pointed problems about the proper use of limited resources.

What Does God Say About Community Health?

This session will address three questions: What are the cultural origins of health-related behavior? How can we help people and communities change health-related behavior through changes in the cultural origins of their behavior? How does community health promote the spiritual being of the people?

Relying on the Holy Spirit

As a health professional you?re trained to take control and rely on your training and experience to accomplish your work. In ministry, Jesus notes, ?apart from me you can do nothing.? More, he told the disciples to not even leave for the mission field until they had the power of the Holy Spirit. How does that power work and how do you get that into your own life? Don?t leave for ministry until you get this one down.

Allocation of Limited Resources in the Mission Field

Medical missionaries will find their resources to help others limited in nearly every realm of their work-time, skills, financial, emotional, equipment and spiritual to name a few. We know what care is available to patients and come skilled to provide it. But many times we are unable to provide it due to limitations of many kinds on the field. How does one decide what care to provide and whom to provide it to? This talk will discuss the conflicts the medical missionary finds on the mission fi...

Integrating Primary Health Care & Community Health Evangelism

Curative primary care is essential for at least 30% of our patient healthcare problems, and we must continue our efforts to provide and teach high quality curative services. However, if we wish to provide high quality, evidence-based care for the remaining 70%, integration of community health with primary care is essential- especially on the missions field. The integration of primary care and community health was one of the main themes of the 2008 WHO World Health Report which was devoted ent...

The ABCs of Appropriate Medical Equipment for Mission Hospitals & Clinics

Finding appropriate medical resources for your mission project is a challenge. This session will explain how to evaluate medical projects, determine what specific equipment is needed, and how to find the resources to meet those needs.

Responding to the Spiritual and Emotional Health Needs of Disaster Victims

This session will explore how to prepare to minister to the vast spiritual and emotional needs of disaster victims. Often medical missionaries are among the first responders to traumatic events. Information from scripture, crisis intervention research, and the medical arena will be offered to equip individuals and teams to better work in those conditions.

The Role of the Church in Cross Cultural Medical Missions

Cross cultural Medical missions can be participatory and reap the benefits of integrated ministry, sustainability, empowerment, phase out. What role can the local church play? What are the advantages. How can that be employed? Cases where it has worked.

Improving Medical Care by Improving Medical Teaching

There is a great shortage of well-trained health care workers. Healthcare education in many nations does not effectively prepare students to be able to work independently upon graduation. These nations focus on use of the lecture method, rather than methods which facilitate adult learning. Realizing this is a problem, nations are increasingly requesting training in how to teach effectively. This session will outline more effective, interactive methods to use in teaching adults to enable t...

Fostering Health System Development Through Short-term Missions

This workshop includes a number of case presentations, which were events reported to us from multiple sources over our years of medical missions service. It is also our desire to review some of the problems caused by mission teams so we can mitigate the potential harm teams can do while working in communities. The idea of potential harm resulting from medical missions may be difficult for some to grasp; but it does exist and in a much more real way than most of us care to acknowledge.

The Role of Empowerment in Health Development

Many people involved in health outreach in developing nations realize that sustainable improvement requires that the local community be empowered rather than be seen as passive recipients of aid. But there is no clear and commonly held definition of empowerment. What does it mean? How, if at all, can it be measured? What does it take to create empowerment? MAP International and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University are engaged in research on that topic. In addition to...

Human Trafficking, Health & "M"

A basic overview of the human trafficking situation and the health consequences of human trafficking will be provided. Many opportunities already exist for health professionals to become involved against trafficking. For those at this conference looking to be involved on the front lines of injustice around the world, organizations and health professionals will assess the efforts already being made, how to get more involved, and what still needs to be done.The volume of aid resources doesn mat...

How to be a Medical Missionary in spite of your Educational Loans

A Biblical view of maney and material things will help you to borrow less and manage your student loans so that your missions service is not delayed

Whole Person Care

This session will explore how to prepare to minister to the vast spiritual and emotional needs of disaster victims. Information will be shared on how to prepare yourself and your team to work in such devastating emotional conditions.

Wholistic Health and Self-empowerment in Latin America - a Christian Perspective

Wholistic health has been understood in many different ways, most of the time focused on different aspects of the individual with little attention to the sociopolitical and cultural factors. Individual health status and life styles are clearly determined by multiple factors and historical contexts in which individuals are immersed. This workshop looks at a 20-year case study in Latin America developing and refining a comprehensive approach which sees health as simultaneously a gift from God a...

Building Strategic Partnerships for Effective Resource Utilization

How can I get started in providing health care in the medical mission field? This workshop will help answer this essential question for those desiring to serve in medical missions, and those who desire to increase their effectiveness by partnering with others. Discuss motivations for partnership, including access to resources, experience, and needed capabilities; types of partners available; barriers to successful partnership; and initial steps necessary to begin to develop a successful partn...

Why Can't I Trust new Christians with the Money?

This workshop will discuss the relationship between ethics and faith and how conversion leads to only slowly to the development of ethical behaviour consistent with the new faith. It will also discuss the rising recognition amongst non-christian intellectuals that attention must be paid to ethical regeneration in the west.

Global Health Trends

This presentation will cover major threats to global health, including current and emerging infectious diseases.

Why do So Many New Missionaries Wash Out?

Work among the poor in the US is remarkably good preparation for healthcare workers interested in serving overseas. This session will demonstrate how work in the inner-city of Memphis TN has prepared many missionaries for the toughest fields on earth--and how this model could be employed all over the U.S.

Stories for Dinnertime

Stories from Steve Saint

The 10/40 Window Via the 240 Window

The 10/40 Window Via the 240 Window

Teaching Techniques For Empowering Local Personnel

Spiritual Survival Tips for Short-Term Medical Missions Team

Cardiac Fitness of Residents: The Spiritual Benefits and Challenges of Marriages in Residency

This will be combined lecture and discussion on the spiritual, emotional, and personal challenges of physician training. Two married physicians will discuss the challenges and opportunities that face medical students, residents, and their spouses. [this will be an evolution of the presentation I gave at the 2008 Conference entitled Post-Graduate Medical Education and Faith. It is different in that my wife will present, and able to discuss women's issues. We will tinker with the material based...

HIV/AIDS Case Studies 2009

Despite the declining AIDS death rate and lessening HIV prevalence in many African countries, HIV/AIDS remains a tremendous challenge with medical, emotional, economic and social problems. Using case presentations and an interac- tive format, this workshop will explore HIV/AIDS care and treatment issues particularly from the speaker's experience in Africa.The volume of aid resources doesn matter as much as the implementation philosophy that the aid is being channeled into. The old adage that ...

The Newest Antiretroviral Agents: Their Role in Therapy

Twenty-five antiretroviral agents have been marketed in the United States for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection/AIDS. The classification of these agents is reviewed and the properties of the five newest antiretroviral agents are discussed in detail. The specific indications for which the use of the new agents is recommended are identified, as are the risks and limitations of their use. The advantages and disadvantages of the new agents are considered in the cont...

Suffering & Evil in the Eastern Worldview - A simplified approach for the western mind

Unfortunately, these case presentations demonstrate how many short-term medical missions work against the health development process. The traditional medical mission model often diminishes confidence in the local health system. It can also adversely affect local health care providers economically and subvert their place of authority in the community. Short-term medical missions need to be cognoscente of these potential effects in order to utilize mission models that minimize or eliminate them...

Women in Missions: Reaching the Unreached

Women in Missions: Reaching the Unreached Women globally have difficulties and challenges that can often only be addressed by other women. This session will discuss the specialized and imperative role of women on the mission field and will also address the increasing roles of single women in many of these roles.   Women in Missions: Reaching the Unreached was a talk given by Christine Birnie

Sustainability by Medical & Public Health Capacity Building

What steps should I take so my efforts contribute to lasting change in the community where I will serve as a healthcare professional? You will review components, content, governance, and types of service providers in successful healthcare delivery systems and identify areas and opportunities for sustainable capacity building. A discussion of engagement strategies will follow, and will include political, regional, cultural, and worldview issues, and steps that will help avoid feeding corruptio...

Disaster Relief: Preparing to Respond

Learn what preparation is needed now to be ready to assist after disasters and serve as a dynamic agent of God's love for the world.

Carpe Diem: Primary Health Care, Faith Based Organizations, and Current Worldwide Opportunities

One fifth of the world have no access to health care. Community based models hold keys to success. Primary Health Care is a WHO priority. Faith Based Organisations are invited to participate. By working together and demonstrating excellence we can bring change, health and hope in the name of Christ.

Nursing Leadership Development through STMs

Nurses from developed countries who have advanced degrees, such as MSN and PHd. are strategically positioned to meet the growing need of Nursing Leadership development of nurse leaders in developing countries. Today in many developing countries, nursing is still yet to be recognized for its significant impact on quality patient care. As a result, these nurses are seen more as subordinates to physicians and lack the opportunities to develop to their full potential as leaders in healthcare org...

Healthcare Management for Nurses and Other Doctors

The volume of aid resources doesn't matter as much as the implementation philosophy that the aid is being channeled into when you have doctors without borders. The old adage that ideas have consequences is quite true untested and shallow ideas often have negative consequences on those that are being served. This session will explore the difference between a dependency philosophy and an empowering strategy, and these ideas will be shared in such a way to be applied to any aid related work.

Healthcare Management for Nurses and Other Doctors Without Borders

The volume of aid resources doesn't matter as much as the implementation philosophy that the aid is being channeled into when you have doctors without borders. The old adage that ideas have consequences is quite true untested and shallow ideas often have negative consequences on those that are being served. This session will explore the difference between a dependency philosophy and an empowering strategy, and these ideas will be shared in such a way to be applied to any aid related work.

Healthcare Management for Doctors, Nurses and Other Dumbies

The volume of aid resources doesn matter as much as the implementation philosophy that the aid is being channeled into. The old adage that ideas have consequences is quite true untested and shallow ideas often have negative consequences on those that are being served. This session will explore the difference between a dependency philosophy and an empowering strategy, and these ideas will be shared in such a way to be applied to any aid related work.