Content Resources

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

In many countries there are large numbers of blind people whose sight could be restored with a low cost effective surgery. Many other could have avoided going blind if their problem had been recognized early and prevented. In this session we will discuss why many of these people may never get the eye surgery they need and how effective community eye care can change this situation in much of the developing world. We will discuss: • major causes of avoidable blindness • approaches to the community that work well• technology that is appropriate for effective low cost and high volume eye surgery• the case for static vs. mobile eye care units• how to set priorities on a low cost eye care budget• integrating spiritual care with eye care in the community

It is estimated that 3-10% of people in the developing world are disabled. The care of disabled children in Sub Saharan Africa is nearly nonexistent. Africa lacks sufficient specialists to provide reasonable care for the vast majority of disabled children, and very few training programs are training such specialists in Africa. A remedial solution for surgical care is necessary in order to provide for this need. Selected doctors with surgical skills might be trained to provide 10-15 surgical procedures thereby providing care for possibly 80-85% of the surgical needs of the disabled. I am a general surgeon who began providing surgical care for the disabled thirty years ago. The care expanded to include children with polio, club feet, burn contractures, club feet, hypospadias, hydrocephalus, spina bifida, and various other disabilities.

Nearly all global under-five mortality (U5M) (99%) occurs in developing countries. The leading causes of U5M worldwide, pneumonia and diarrheal illness, account for 1.396 and 0.801 million annual deaths, respectively. While important advances in prevention are being made, advanced life support (ALS) management in children in the developing world is often incomplete due to limited resources. Existing ALS management guidelines for children in LR settings are largely empirical not evidence-based, written for the hospital setting, not standardized with a systematic approach to patient assessment and categorization of illness, and taught in current pediatric ALS training courses from the perspective of full-resource settings. Extending higher quality emergency and critical care services to children in the developing world is the focus of this session. Simple inexpensive ALS management when integrated into existing programs of primary care can improve child survival across the globe.

The pediatric pain control breakout session will cover how to determine the best drugs for basic pain control as well as procedural pain control. How to access goals of pain control will be covered. Discuss current available drugs and their potential risks and benefits. Discuss assessing the patient pre-procedure to determine if planned sedation/pain control is safe, including appropriate NPO guidelines, airway assessment, and cardiovascular assessment. Discuss basic monitoring and resuscitation needs for safely doing pediatric procedural pain control.

This breakout session will focus on Challenges and Changes as we move forward in Global Pediatrics touching briefly on patient care, research, and teaching. Will include ways to link and dialog and work together with our international partners

Care of burned patients in the developing world with special emphasis on Nursing care will be discussed. Oral rehydration techniques and other necessary adaptations for appropriate care in limited resource environments will be presented.

This workshop will explore the challenges frequently encountered as well as how to assess and deal with health issues that specifically occur with human trafficking in low resourced areas.

Advanced reproductive technology can accomplish many things today to produce children but the salient question is should these things be done? In a country with minimal regulation available, practitioners must thoughtfully determine their own position on these issues based upon their spiritual beliefs and ethical values. This workshop will update attendees on the types of things being proposed or done today and Christian principles to be considered in examining these procedures

Triage by definition means that resources are too limited to handle the extent of the disease being presented. It is always a difficult and stressful situation for the healthcare provider who sometimes must allow some to die so that others might live. Practicing in the developing world, with its much more severe limitations, often changes the application of triage principles in a way which increases stress. Principles of triage in the developed world will be reviewed and practical examples from the developing world will be worked out in a group setting. Participants are encouraged to help mission hospitals develop appropriate plans for handling mass casualty and the numbers of other people that will flock to the hospital.