Most Christian healthcare professionals and students recognize the value of whole person care in stateside and international settings. Yet such care might be one of the most complex challenges in healthcare today. How is done? When is it done? Is it ethical or legal? Can I pray with a patient? Share the gospel? And if so, how is all this done with limited time? We'll unravel these issues and more. Session recorded on Friday, November 10th during Session Block #2 at 10:00 AM EST ; speaker:...

Hear healthcare missionaries share their journeys. In the first hour hear a panel of two docs and two nurses will your questions, as well these: - How do I find God’s guidance in the journey? - Why and how do I connect with a mentor or agency or team or training? - What about student loans, raising financial support? The second hour will be small discussion group with a missionary coach and others like you in your current stage: - Exploring whether or not to consider full-time...

Teaching medical procedures is one of the most "hands on" parts to medical education. We will be discussing the challenges about this topic, tips for success, and how to use our influence as medical educators to honor God. Session recorded on Friday, November 10th during Session Block #2 at 10:00 AM EST ; speaker: Andrew Posey; Jonathan Peters Session webpage: https://www.medicalmissions.com/events/gmhc-2023/sessions/using-procedural-medicine-to-build-relationships

STUDENTS & RESIDENTS: How can we deepen in our love for Jesus and see this refining, exciting time as He does? We’ll spend the first half tackling topics like long-haul stamina, time management, living in community, debt, and God’s heart for those experiencing poverty. For the second hour, we’ll divide into small groups of the same discipline (i.e., DO/MD students, residents, pre-med, PA, NP, pharmacy, dental, spouses). With facilitators who have gone through it before, we’ll dive into...

Cultures around the world have differing worldviews, practices, and behaviors related to health, disease, healing, suffering, death, and dying. According to scripture, humility is an attitude believers need to adopt, especially when working cross-culturally, “Clothe yourselves in humility (1 Pet. 5:5). Training nurses and other healthcare workers to use cultural humility allows believers to approach another person with openness, compassion, and the love of Jesus. When believers take the time...

People interpret what we do based on their worldview. In Honor-Shame cultures, people might misinterpret and see in our actions merit making, proselytization or apostasy, however pure our motivation may be. We’ll look at honor-shame based worldviews, understand how and why people may misinterpret what we do, look at risks and practices to help show and share God’s love appropriately. We’ll use observations from relief and urban poor work in SE Asia to illustrate. Application is relevant both...

The global missions landscape has shifted and so has the role Americans now play. We'll explore the many new opportunities this has created. Session recorded on Thursday, November 9th during Session Block #1 at 3:45PM EST ; speaker: Charlie Vittitow. Session webpage: https://www.medicalmissions.com/events/gmhc-2023/sessions/where-do-i-fit-in-todays-missions-landscape

Your emotional health matters as you join God in His work among the nations. Learn to apply biblical principles to experience emotional healing and minister to others. In this session you will walk away with 4 keys that will help you receive God's emotional healing. Session recorded on Thursday, November 9th during Session Block #1 at 3:45PM EST ; speaker: Francis Bukachi. Session webpage: https://www.medicalmissions.com/events/gmhc-2023/sessions/get-emotionally-healed-a-training-course

There are tens of thousands of bridges all over the world. We cross them to get over to the other side. We often take them for granted and sometimes we marvel at them. The Great Commission of our Lord Jesus to take His Gospel into all the world is meant for everyone, without exception. But most believers hardly know where to start and how to effectively communicate His Truth with the lost. We can do so by building bridges to take the seeker across the abyss and into His light. It’s a whole...

The Great Commission is a call for all Christ followers to make disciples wherever we are. So often, however, we think that this takes place on a short-term trip where we "do" a project for the national or indigenous people. Discipleship requires more time than what a short-term trip offers. We will consider how we might have a long-term impact even on a short-term trip by working with and not just for our indigenous brothers and sisters in Christ. Session recorded on Thursday, November 9th...

Take a journey exploring the epidemic level of mental health disorders that has made primary care the de facto mental health system globally. Hear how primary care clinicians can overcome the growing lack of access to mental and behavioral health specialty services. Discover how the Waco Guide to Psychopharmacology, a free, tangible, evidence-based, point-of-care tool providing high-quality mental and behavioral health care support, is helping busy primary care clinicians to make impactful...

This session will discuss how short-term global healthcare mission trips can benefit medical students and residents, but also be beneficial to their global hosts. Ways to make these trips ethical, equitable and ecologically responsible will be presented. Mission and academic agencies are paying critical attention to “Global Healthcare Education” experiences. Short-term mission trips in a Christian context may meet this need. How can we make these experiences ethical, equitable, and...

Team Dynamics in low resource, high demand, multi-cultural environments is challenging. We will discuss a wide range of coping skills including clear boundaries, sabbath and transparency. We will also discuss how to build team consensus and agreement on the foundational principles related to self-care in a healthcare missions environment. The creation and communication of personal and team boundaries will be discussed with practical application examples shared.   Session recorded on...

Join us as we share our experiences in leading women on cross-cultural short-term trips. Hear about the techniques we have developed to help team members break down barriers, connect with other women, and effectively communication the love of God. This session will focus on the wholistic approach to training and equipping women for short-term trips and the impact they leave on others they meet. Properly preparing teams to minister to the whole person (Physical, Mental, Emotional, and...

Although new therapies are being discovered all the time (medical progress), current research shows that many of these advances are ultimately demonstrated to be false in subsequent studies. In order to understand which discoveries are likely to be true progress vs. mere hype, every clinician should understand these basic but surprising aspects of scientific evidence before recommending a new therapy for a patient. We will explore the concepts of the fragility (Fragility Index), flaws...

The Great Command and the Great Commission call us to love and to make disciples of Muslims, our monotheistic cousins. Christians in medicine are wonderfully placed at the juxtaposition of these two commands. In this session we draw on the experience of the past 35 years of medical missions in a fundamentalist Muslim society to identify some of the barriers to faith, to see how working in the context of medical care can help to surmount them, to offer practical suggestions, and to share some...

This session will review common treatments for soil-transmitted helminths, Chagas disease, HAT, and leishmaniasis. Although these parasitic infections are often acquired outside of the United States, with a recent increase in immigrants and refugees entering the United States, more are being identified as patients present for medical care. The goal of this session is to educate providers and increase awareness of how to identify and treat these parasitic infections. The brief discussion of...

We live in the most amazing days since Jesus walked the earth. The global church is sprinting toward the finish line of the 2000-year Great Commission race, and by God’s grace, our generation may be the one to finish it. In this session, Douglas Cobb of The Finishing Fund will explain the global effort to get the gospel for the first time to the world’s last few unengaged people groups and will present the amazing promise of Matthew 24:14 that the completion of the Great Commission will open...

Globally, diarrheal disease is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in children under five years, accounting for over half a million deaths annually. Diarrhea arises mostly from contaminated food and water sources. Worldwide 2.5 billion people lack proper sanitation, and 780 million lack access to safe drinking water. Diarrhea contributes to the incidence of malnutrition in children as each episode deprives the child of optimal nutrition. In resource-poor communities, children under...

Medical missionaries from Western industrialized nations frequently encounter ethically disturbing situations when providing care in the developing world. This may be due to generally-recognized ethical principles being largely influenced by Western realities, beliefs and values. Individuals in resource-limited settings may have very different views on the risks and benefits of medical care, widely disparate access to reliable treatment, and decision-making that emphasizes honoring the...

Trafficking in persons is one of the greatest violations against humankind. Human trafficking happens locally, nationally, and internationally; with all ages, ethnicities, socioeconomic levels and genders. While any person can be lured into exploitation, children have additional vulnerabilities due to their dependence on adults and developmental issues. This presentation seeks to address human trafficking in children and youth and how the healthcare provider can be integral in the prevention,...

Prayer support is just as vital as financial support. This session will explore how to thrive for a lifetime. You will need churches to send you, and a full and engaged prayer and financial support team.

Every day healthcare workers face a lot of stressful and emotionally challenging situations at work. Moreover the long drawn pandemic has had its impact on healthcare workers. Numerous deaths, making difficult choices due to resource constraints and overstretched days are some of the challenges that have affected health workers mentally and emotionally. With daily work demands being constant many of them are left with these issues unresolved. How then can we care for our caregivers who...

How do we serve in the mission field without losing our kids? Third Culture Kids or Missionary Kids live a unique life experience that at its best can form amazing faith and character and at its worst, disillusionment and unbelief. The session will address how we can try to parent well, while living and growing up in Christian systems differentiating from what is Biblical and what is cultural.