Content Resources

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, avoiding, or at least recovering from many of the common mistakes in cross-cultural missions.Our discussion will include:• Framing the problem: Why doesn’t everyone see the world my way? • A spiritual foundation: Humility – be a Learner• Communication: Language is more than just words. A simple, practical language/culture learning process – even for short-term missions.• Relationships: Essential Bridges - - build them to last• Good news is not always Good News: Why context is always important. Looking for systemic roots to disease, poverty and hunger - - and how to work for lasting change.

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 find what’s available to keep you on track for medical mission. As an extra bonus, meet a young medical missionary (not me, obviously) on home assignment to discover how he found a mentor and what this means to him.

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 challenges are great in the often uncomfortable environment of the mission field. How can we be prepared and what are some of the techniques that we can use that might be of help for us as we care for those who often have never seen a dentist before and are in pain or have been. Relieving pain and infection and doing no harm is one of our most pressing issues in areas where there is no dental care available. It is a matter of getting our of your comfort zone and working in a small dark area, in which you could injure your self as well and where the incidence of HIV may be quite high. Lets look at some way to work in and through these difficulties for the glory of the Lord and the benefit of those who need to know Jesus and seek relief from their suffering. May His great love and compassion show in all we do and say. To God be the glory.

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 nations and bring case studies from remote Papua, Indonesia as well as people-packed India. Best global practice in HIV interventions at the family, community, and clinic level is reviewed with careful Biblical thought and mandate. Discussion will stimulate consideration of your own life choices in light of this global opportunity to give life in it's fullest to many across our world. Themes and technical areas covered will include caring in the context of minimal resources, the biblical basis for caring about the AIDS crisis, understanding best practice in prevention, care, and support, and effective communication across cultures in health knowledge and care.

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 and the Islamic worldview of health and illness, health care providers are better prepared to interact with their Muslim clients and their families and will be able to provide care that is accepted by the client. This in turn can lead to a decrease in the amount of racial and ethnic disparities that occur in health care in our society today.

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 and x-rays will guide our discussions and help you be better prepared. Cases will be of interest to those with medical training or those serving in an area without easy access to medical care. Come and enjoy the game.

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 methods• wound closure with a variety of Suturing techniques• common pitfalls• practical tips on improving your technique• guidelines for choosing the correct suture and needle