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We all know that the types of missionary work you do can look very different depending on what your profession and skill set is. For all of you who are in the healthcare field, missionary work will take you on a journey of using your medical skills in an area of the world that needs our particular love, care, and expertise.  Quick reminder: missionary work is for all branches of the healthcare profession! What I want to do in this post is to review several types of missionary work. My hope is that this will serve a couple of purposes. Number one, encourage you to consider new ways you might be called to serve others. Number two, for those who aren’t using your skills in a missionary setting, to remind you of your original calling to point others to God through your expertise, skills, gifting, and your role as a believer.  Here are eight (8) types of missionary work you should consider in how your skills match up with any given type.   #1 Medical These are professions like family medicine, infectious disease, and mental health. General practice isn’t the only thing that is relevant or needed on the mission field. Often there are indigenous GP’s that could use other skills to buoy the work they are already doing. Whether you’re interested in short-term or long-term mission trip opportunities, there are so many ways you can serve.  #2 Surgical Surgical involves anesthesia, obstetrics, ophthalmology, and cardiac surgery. Like medical missionaries, surgical missionaries use their skills and expertise to serve God and love others with their unique skill set that might not be readily available in under-resourced areas. You’ll want to consider if you’re interested in short-term or long-term mission trip opportunities, there are so many ways you can serve.  #3 Nursing We posted about nursing and ways to serve recently. These professionals provide the glue that holds it all together: Optometry - there are many locations around the world that lack optometry services Dentistry - healthy teeth may not seem like a big deal, but we know that many other serious conditions can be linked to oral health. #4 Public Health This type of work can mean a lot of things. For example, this could mean serving in areas like sanitation/water, environmental health, epidemiology. Public health might be one of the more overlooked areas of need, but in reality, public health is concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country or region of the world. As we’ve all seen in the Covid-19 pandemic, public health officials are often on the front lines of keeping people safe, informed, and aware of best practices #5 Medical Education As we’ve discussed before, one of the best ways to make sure that you are serving people well is to teach them the medical skills that they need in order to run a clinic/hospital on their own. Train the trainer to multiply the effort. All of these professions can be vital and necessary in the mission field. To look further into this, check out our resource page, which allows you to dig deeper into all of these areas of serving in missions. When you are forming a team to serve together in an area of the world that needs your medical expertise, you will also need to consider other areas of need that your team will have. #6 Teacher Are there children on your team? Will they go to a local school or will someone need to be designated as the homeschool teacher? Will any part of your service to the people you are living with involve teaching of any kind? You will need to make sure that someone on your team is a capable teacher. If teaching is your gifting, please consider how you can serve God and love others in various settings globally.  #7 Administrator Who will be in charge of communicating with supporters? Keeping the budget? Making sure that local fees, taxes, and other expenses are taken care of? This is a vital role that is often overlooked when it comes to missionary work. This type of work is extremely necessary and helps all of the other missionaries get out of the office and use their skills for other things.  #8 Marketplace Worker If one or more of the types of missionary work we’ve covered fit you, you may wish to consider how your current role or position can be done in a different setting.  Many things are shifting in the world of missions today. One of these major shifts is a movement of Christian professionals taking their jobs overseas and being a light in the world through their job. And while these individuals may not be raising funds, this is missions. Healthcare is one of the greatest avenues of need globally which makes your skills an excellent avenue to take a job somewhere in the world. We’ve partnered with many networks—like Scatter Global, CRU, Pioneers, and many others in order to create a collective movement of individuals and agencies who are moving the vision of missions forward and equipping healthcare providers to use their skills in unique new ways. Take a look at the options for taking your job overseas. Find out how you can take your job overseas, find ministry partners, get great examples of people already serving in this way, and the resources you need for marketplace missionary work. Explore additional mission opportunities and upcoming trips with many different partners—from the Christian Academy of African Physicians to many other international trips.

Vaccines - Facts and Practical Tips

understand Muslims and the issues they deal with in. the 21st century.

There are nearly three million nurses in the United States. You have, arguably, one of the greatest skill sets from which to serve God. Let me explain why I think that your role as a nurse is so important. And, I want to leave you with some examples and opportunities that will inspire and encourage you to consider serving God with your nursing skills on an even greater level! Nurses are the health workforce. Nurses and midwives account for nearly fifty percent of the health workforce. World Health Organization reports that of the 43.5 million health workers in the world, it is estimated that 20.7 million are nurses and midwives. Wow. This is a lot of people with an amazing set of skills to help with needs around the entire world.  Nurses are trusted. According to Gallup, for the eighteenth year in a row, Americans rate the honesty and ethics of nurses highest among a list of professions that Gallup asks U.S. adults to assess annually. Currently, 85 percent of Americans say nurses' honesty and ethical standards are "very high" or "high”. Not only are there many nurses around the world, but your role is also one of the most trusted among healthcare professionals. Imagine the possibilities with your experience and care! With that kind of trust, ability, and knowledge, nurses make the perfect candidates for serving God on nursing mission trips! Nurses care.  According to the National Institutes of Health, nursing is a caring profession. You understand that. My guess is, that’s why you do what you do—you care. Caring means you have empathy for and connection with the people you serve. The core of nursing values that are essential to the profession includes human dignity, integrity, autonomy, justice, and altruism. The core values of serving on a nursing mission trip line up with those core values of the nursing profession perfectly. While serving on the mission field, we must always affirm the dignity of the people we are working with. The people we work with are humans that have dignity. We are there to work alongside them.  Our integrity is on the line each time we work in the mission field as those we are serving will be looking at us and watching how we live. Autonomy affirms the ideal that we do not come to “save” people, but that we are working together with them in order to teach, train, and share the good news of the gospel.  Justice means that we do not just work with a certain subset of people, but that we look toward the equitable distribution of services and resources across all people. All of these characteristics are embodied in altruism, which is defined as the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.  What great attributes to possess as a person and provider. You care more than most people. Hello! You’re trusted and you care. That’s a nice combination for loving God and serving others.   Nursing mission trips: an example. Nurses Christian Fellowship USA is one great example of using your role and skills as a nurse to serve God. Nurses Christian Fellowship USA is a ministry of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA and has been since 1948. It’s a professional and ministry organization equipping nursing students, nurses, and nurse educators to follow Jesus in healthcare.  This ministry reaches the largest group of healthcare providers in the world. Nurses Christian Fellowship USA is about relationships—with God, with colleagues, and with those they serve. Be sure to check them out. They have local groups and regular national meetings so as to provide connection, prayer, and application of the Bible to nursing. Nursing mission trips: a story. Let me leave you with one nursing and missions story. The following is just a snippet from one nurse serving in missions:  Imagine you’re a nurse at a clinic in a remote village in Papua New Guinea (PNG). After nursing college, you move into a far-off village you’ve never seen before. If you’re fortunate, there is a cell tower nearby and you have cell coverage. If not, you might have a 2-way radio for communications. You see patients from 8AM to 6PM with no breaks. Your staff is minimal, and your clinic is undersupplied with meds and vaccines. You’re tasked to meet the needs of the people in your area, despite poor lighting in your clinic and no sheets on the beds, lacking basic equipment such as refrigerators, oxygen tanks, and scales. When you leave for the day, desperate patients come to your home. Trauma and death are common….you can read the full nursing missions story. Just imagine how much help this nurse and the team are helping the people in PNG. They are literally saving lives. Now, imagine the needs around the world for your experience, skills, and care.  Nurses make up the world of health care. Nurses are the most trusted role in health care. Nurses simply care. This makes your role as a nurse one of the most needed roles when it comes to missions. Nurses will always be an invaluable member of a mission trip team - whether long-term or short-term. A nurse brings cohesiveness, professionalism, and integrity to the table. May God raise up many more nurses who will be encouraged to serve God through their role, experience, and skills to bring even more people to Him.  Find more information on serving, stories, jobs, groups, and discussions about nursing and missions.

Missionaries and other overseas Christian workers are subject to unique stressors, and providing proper support for this group requires a commitment from sending organizations. Despite the fact that in the past mental health problems in missions have been neglected, missions organizations have developed an increasing capacity for supporting missionaries. This presentation describes best practices for behavioral health support. We will discuss how the organizations we have worked with have reduced stigmatization, developed sound procedures for evaluating, supporting, and triaging missionaries and their families who develop psychiatric problems. We will review current medical thinking about resilience, compassion fatigue, vicarious traumatization, and burnout and discuss how these concepts can be used to inform medical support for expatriate Christian workers. (This is Part 1 of a 2 part presentation)

Christian healthcare professionals working in cross-cultural settings need to understand medical anthropology from a perspective that goes beyond the classical "knowledge-attitudes-practices" model. This session will cover essential questions about how people of different backgrounds can understand the body, illness, health and healing as well as highlight some of the challenges in walking the line between "cultural relativism" and Biblical truths.

One of the great tensions in modern medical missions is short-term trips and long-term service. There are varying opinions on whether one is better than another and whether or not there is value or harm in many short-term trips. What I mean is, what’s more valuable to the people you’re serving? Occupational Therapy (OT) is an arm of healthcare that needs to be carefully evaluated in this light because providing OT services in the short-term may or may not be the best help over the long term. Let’s look at what OT is, why it’s important, how it can be helpful, and how you can use your gifts properly to serve others in the best ways.  What is Occupational Therapy? The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) states, “occupational therapy services are provided for habilitation, rehabilitation, and the promotion of health and wellness to those who have or are at risk for developing an illness, injury, disease, disorder, condition, impairment, disability, activity limitation, or participation restriction”. Why is Occupational Therapy important? Providing occupational therapy services in developing countries requires sensitivity to the cultural and health conditions of the host country. This is vital to know because, in the United States, we understand occupational therapists change lives all of the time. We know they make a difference in children’s lives too—helping with everything from developmental delays, to Autism, to Down syndrome.  OT’s are vital in ensuring people are able to participate in their daily routines. OT’s help hurting people physically function and learn to engage in life despite difficulties. Make no mistake about it, occupational therapy is vital. Therefore, you, the OT, are needed to serve using your gifts and skill all over the globe. But, OT must be done with intention and a desire to empower indigenous people, aware of the limitations and conditions of the host country’s resources. What can Occupational Therapy (OT) do to help people?  Many occupational therapists would love to use their skills in low-resource settings, but this requires great care and research before jumping in. There are questions about whether the Western biomedical model is appropriate in settings where primary health care is inadequate and specialized services would only reach a privileged few. This brings us to some things to be aware of in serving others through occupational therapy.  What does the Occupational Therapist (OT) need to be aware of in serving? We need to be aware of a sustainable plan of action to start. We need to first look at the healthcare system as a whole. Therapists should be looking for ways in which all members of society can receive healthcare and be looking for the ability of the system to continue the therapy services. This may be done by training workers in impoverished areas or providing educational opportunities for indigenous people that might study to become an OT. How can the Occupational Therapist (OT) get started in serving others?  Let’s look at four areas where you can get started with occupational therapy. Strategy #1 Assess One important thing is to look at what the country or region actually needs. OT services in the United States may look different than OT services in a different country.  One strategy is to develop a comprehensive rehabilitation plan that encompasses all aspects of health rather than just looking at OT services. For long-term service, this might include a team of providers, rather than just an Occupational Therapist. In short-term trips, this might mean training local physicians or Christian health workers in all aspects of rehabilitation. Honestly, the best approach is for occupational therapy consultants to assess the need for services in a particular country. To start, at least three areas must be assessed: 1) patterns of morbidity and mortality; 2) patterns of health care distribution; and 3) the ability to sustain occupational therapy services. Strategy #2: Evaluate  Next, it’s time to evaluate the patterns of health care distribution. This requires the OT to truly assess needs in the area. You must be sure you get past the centers which are already, in many ways, established. In many countries, this means going beyond the urban areas into rural areas. These rural areas need all of the help they can get, in most cases. You can serve them well by coming alongside them and helping provide a more balanced approach with a more full range of equipment and services where possible. The important thing is that you don’t evaluate on your own and only from a Western perspective, but alongside the indigenous people of that area. Strategy #3: Aid After you’ve assessed and evaluated the area you’re looking to serve, it’s time to look at the strategies related to the development of OT in said area. I've seen many strategies that can ultimately aid the development of occupational therapy in countries that need more resources. For example, aid may mean 1) documenting the actual needs around the region, 2) helping teach and train on the importance of a plan for increasing help in the area, 3) considering and prioritizing needs for the region, and finally, 4) writing down and creating a process around teaching and training for future growth and help in the area.  Strategy #4: Plan You don’t have to have a perfect plan. You just have to start with a plan. Your plan should include defining what rehab and services look like. What’s the end-goal for services? What does success in an area look like? It’s vital you the missionary work that serves the needs of the people in the area you’re serving with the people you are serving. This is boots-on-the-ground data you’re looking for.  Any decent plan should include defining the needs and how best to get at helping fix those needs. Who are the points of contact for the area? What are the specialties and/or specialists that need to be contacted within the region so the person has the best overall care? While there will not be a one size fits all approach and what works in the United States will probably not work in the area you’re serving. But, it’s vital you work to do for one what you would wish to do for all. We’ve reviewed what OT is, why it’s important, how it can be helpful, and how you can use your gifts properly to serve others best. If God is calling you to serve others through OT, my encouragement to you is to review this post to help get you started down the right path to serving well. 

Strategic indigenous medical training to impact the Church Planting Movement and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Learn about GMH (Global Mental Health) and resources for integrating this into your general medical and global health practices - through clinical vignettes from our practice in LMICs.

Let me tell you about a medical missionary you have probably never heard about. But, you should know about this missionary. My sincere hope is that reading about this woman’s life will encourage, challenge, and inspire you to take your experience, skills, and passions and use them for God and others like this woman.  Remember, medical missions is constantly changing. In a recent post, we covered the history of medical missions. The enterprise of medical missions has brought physical, emotional, and spiritual health to the world—and opened the doors for the gospel in countless countries.  Medical missions is the term used for Christian missionary endeavors that involve the administration of any kind of medical treatment. Medical missions connects your skills with your calling. We see from reviewing Scripture, in the New Testament for example, that Jesus called for His disciples to heal the sick and serve the poor. He also calls them to "make disciples of all nations". In trying to obey Jesus’ commands, Jesus called for His disciples to heal the sick and serve the poor. He also calls them to "make disciples of all nations". As someone who works in healthcare, your life should be spent doing those exact things. You heal the sick, you serve the poor, and you make disciples of all nations. It's what being a medical missionary is all about.  There are so many avenues for missionary work. We’ve talked before about some popular ways many missionaries serve God. We’ve covered short-term, long-term, marketplace, domestic, international, and medical education as some of the top ways believers find practical avenues to serve God.  Today we want to take you back in history to look at a woman who served as a medical missionary in India. Her name is Dr. Ida Sophia Scudder.  She was born into a medical missionary family in India in 1870. Her grandparents, her father (and seven brothers) were all medical missionaries in India. She went to school in the US at the Northfield Seminary in Massachusetts, then came back to India to visit her parents. She didn’t want to be a missionary. In fact, one article reads that she, “determined never to become one of 'those missionary Scudders'.” But, one evening while she was in India, she witnessed three women die during childbirth because there were no doctors available to women. This happened in 1894. She would go on to call that situation her, “three knocks in the night.” During those days, there were no gynecologists or women practitioners at all, so women were not getting care. She went back to the US and went to Cornell Medical College in New York City, and was part of the first class that accepted women. She returned to India and started a small practice for women in Vellore. Shortly after she returned, her father died, but she treated over 5,000 patients in just two short years. In 1902, Dr. Scudder started the Mary Taber Schell Hospital in Vellore. She also began to realize that she couldn’t serve all the women of India alone, so she started a medical school for women only. During the first year, she had 151 applicants to her school. Eventually, the school became co-educational so that she could get the support of more churches in the United States.  Mahatma Gandhi visited her school in 1928. She went on to raise millions of dollars for the school and hospital. The Vellore Christian Medical Center has been one of the largest Christian hospitals in the world. Today, the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore still honors Dr. Ida Scudder and her determination to serve populations of people that were not being served. According to the website “One of the top-ranked educational, healthcare and research institutes in the country. CMC’s network of primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care teaching hospitals spread across six campuses in and around Vellore, is, together, a 3,000-bedded multi-specialty medical institution of international fame. The Christian Medical College Vellore, located in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, is an unaided minority educational institution established in the year 1900. Started as a single-bedded clinic, under the leadership of Dr. Ida Sophia Scudder, the only daughter of second-generation American missionaries, it grew into a full-fledged medical college imparting education in medical, nursing and allied health sciences.”  I encouraged you recently to keep the continual pursuit of a lifestyle of missional living. A missional life isn’t something we wait to do “one day”. No, the Great Commission tells us to “Go” and we understand this means you live your calling “as you are going.”  In case you missed my last post, I encourage you to, every day, take another intentional next step toward your own mission-focused life. Is that serving at your church? Is that networking and connecting with someone in your field? Is it the next step in education or training? Do it! Take that next baby step.  Review Dr. Scudder’s life and learn from her. Get on a mission with God. God’s will is that we serve Him and love others. It’s that simple and complex! Dr. Scudder’s life is an example and an inspiration to us all. She is one woman who didn’t even think she wanted to be a missionary. But, over her years of faithfully serving God and loving others, she has changed the healthcare system of South India forever. Scudder dedicated her life to the challenges of Indian women and the fight against bubonic plague, cholera, and leprosy. I hope that looking in detail at Dr. Scudders’ life will encourage and inspire you to press on in your calling to God. Often, you can get lost in the daily grind and forget the bigger picture of your life. I hope that in reviewing Ira’s life, you’ve been encouraged and inspired to live out your calling. Like Ira, let’s aim to live out our faith with our entire lives.

Sending organizations spend tens of millions of dollars each year sending clinicians and support staff overseas. They invest very little in comparison on the leaders who are essential to preventing their burnout. Competent and compassionate administrative leaders are not only essential for developing and sustaining resilient healthcare and ministry teams; they also shepherd the systems that optimize human, technological and financial resources and prevent waste of resources and harm to patients. Despite its necessity, healthcare leadership and management training often scarce in many of the world’s most marginalized places. In this presentation, Anderson makes a case for the necessity of building leadership capacity and introduces practical tools that help address this training gap while building vibrant, sustainable mission teams.

How do I know if it's Sensory? Screenings and clinical observations to identify sensory processing delays.