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Can Somebody Call a Doctor? Building a Rationale for International Faith-Based Telemedicine
By Donald Thompson MD, MPH & TM In many international ministry settings, you as the ex-pat are seen as the medical expert, whether you are medically trained or not.  While you might be a highly accomplished doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or community health worker, often pastors, church planters, evangelists, or project managers are sought out as “the medical experts.”  In spite of the fact that there may be a good national medical infrastructure available, you can count on being asked “to consult” on your national partner’s aunt, or the son of the village elder, or the brother of the local Imam, just because of your western perspective!   I have a friend whom I will call ‘Pete’ who had served as a church planter in the Philippines for about a decade.  Approximately 25 years ago he stayed in my home while he attended a two week tropical medicine intensive at Tulane University.  This two week course colloquially known as the “Missionary Doctor Course” was stuffed with all the tropical medicine training that medical personnel needed for their third world setting.   This two week course has been replaced with a one semester certificate level course that is now available at other universities.  Though designed for physicians, nurses, and those with medical training, ‘Pete’ just devoured everything in it because he had been ’doctoring’ for the previous 10 years!  You might be another ‘Pete’ or perhaps even as a skilled family practice physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, you are regularly stumped by various skin conditions, fevers of unknown origin, or chronic abdominal pain with weight loss and cough. You may work alongside a very competent national counterpart but there will often be cases where the diagnosis and management options are not clear.  Who are you going to call? There was a time not long ago when you may not have had access to a computer with video capability or a strong enough internet signal to support video.  Not having a dependable electrical supply from local grid may also have created issues if you did not have redundancies in the form of a generator or solar power system to keep you functional when the power goes out.  Technology now permits, for the most part, almost everyone to have access to a smart phone and data network that will support real-time consultation.  ‘Pete’ did not have internet access. ‘Pete’ did not have a smart phone.  YOU do!  In most settings, your national counterpart does as well!  That being said it still begs the question: who are you going to call?  The good news is that even a smart phone will connect you to that person.  Need a Dermatologist?  Need a Pediatrician?  Need an OB/GYN? What is the typical need where you work? Telemedicine can address that need!  Do you or your national colleagues need to speak with an experienced medical specialist while you have a patient in front of you?  Telemedicine can do that!   Does your hematology analyzer need to be re-calibrated?  Telemedicine can access a bio-lab technician who can walk you through this process!  Does your medical staff need training but can’t afford the cost or time away? Does your office staff need support developing a spreadsheet for budget?  Iterations of telemedicine can and will address these needs.  If you’ve asked if there’s a way to use a telemedicine network to build capacity within the national healthcare delivery system where you serve, I believe that you now have the answer. Call the Doctor! Telemedicine Blog 2 of 4 Are you interested in exploring telemedicine more?  Would you like to contribute your experiences and suggestions to help develop some new solutions? Please fill out this survey!
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Could You Put On Your Doctor's Hat? Building a Rationale for International Faith-Based Telemedicine
By Donald Thompson MD, MPH & TM As a physician I have friends who call me for medical advice from time to time.  Actually, all the time…  I really do love it when they ask if I can put on my doctor’s hat.  These friends who contact me via email, text, WhatsApp, phone, and/or Skype do so from both domestic and international settings.  The use of any medium of communication with me while I’m wearing my doctor’s hat is a form of telemedicine.  If you are currently working internationally as an expatriate, there’s reason to ask if there’s a role for telemedicine to support you while you pour your life, skills, and family into your ministry work.   When you have a potential medical problem, what are your options?  You may have access to qualified medical personnel in a proper clinical setting, and you might need to use a local clinic. Otherwise your options are to wait it out, praying, of course for God to intervene and provide healing.  Quite often, those who call me asking me to put on my doctor’s hat have already searched the internet to find out what Dr. Google might diagnose.  It’s likely that you’ve done the same and it’s likely that your ‘fatigue’ may be diagnosed as a ‘potential heart issue’ or your ‘headache’ is diagnosed as a ‘potential brain tumor.’  One thing is sure…Your search on the internet is not very reassuring! As I tell my patients, Dr. Google is not always wrong… But most of the time, an internet search is not sufficient. Perhaps a better option is to have access to a vetted doctor who understands your cultural and geographical settings and the very limited resources available where you are posted.  As telemedicine is becoming more medically acceptable and common in the west, it figures that telemedicine has a vital role to offer to those serving internationally.  While real-time face to face interaction may be limited by bandwidth issues, keep in mind that advancement in communication is almost certain to permit this in the not too distant future.  If at your post you have internet and phone service it is most certain that telemedicine can offer medical counsel and a fair measure of peace of mind. My conversations with my friends seeking medical advice are almost always by delayed interaction such as email or text, and this is adequate for most issues.  They have access to someone who knows the context in which they are serving, and with a little back-and-forth texting, I can often figure out what is going on and what next steps are most appropriate. Nothing hinders your work in an international setting like the uncertainty that you feel when you or a family member is struck by an illness and it's unclear what course of action should be considered.  If, on the other hand, you could find the right person for advice then it might be as easy as picking up medicine the next time you or one of your team members goes to the city.  You don’t have to ignore it.  You don’t have to panic.  Oh, to sleep better at night… Telemedicine Blog 1 of 4 Are you interested in exploring telemedicine more?  Would you like to contribute your experiences and suggestions to help develop some new solutions? Please fill out this survey!    
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Announcing a new way to level-up your short-term trip program: Missions Made Simple
ServiceReef announces new way to level-up your short-term trip program: Missions Made Simple We invite you to learn more about how Missions Made Simple —the digital course in missions—can help you achieve greater engagement with your program Louisville, KY-- Mobilizing people to short and long term missions can be cumbersome and confusing. Thousands of missions programs and missions leaders across the globe need more training to equip and engage their teams for short-term and long-term missions trips. We have the tools you need to overcome these challenges and see exponential growth.  Introducing: Missions Made Simple. Created by ServiceReef, Missions Made Simple is a digital course for missions that will help you take your program to the next level. Missions Made Simple was created to help set you up for amazing success as a missions mobilizer, organization leader, team leader, or anyone walking down a path of greater missional engagement. “This felt like the perfect time to release the work we've been doing for years with so many others. Digital is the quickest, most easily accessible way for you to connect yourself and your team to training that fits your missions goals.” said Micah Pritchard, Co-Founder of ServiceReef. How can Missions Made Simple help you? Many ways. Here are three major ways we can help you: #1 Resources to Grow: You will find many resources to help equip you to better lead, guide, and engage those living a missional life.  Explore our courses, worksheets, videos, assessments, and other resources. #2 Connect with Others: We believe you should never feel alone as a missions mobilizer. That's why we have created an online community of others who are equipping and mobilizing people to missional living. Join today to connect with others just like you. #3 Confidence to Lead: Mobilizing and leading people to missional living can be intimidating while at times leaving you to wonder if you're doing it right or well. Here you can find the confidence to go further faster with these tools and the community of others who are mobilizing. About the Missions Made Simple course Level-Up Your Short Term Trip Program will be a game-changer for your missions program. Here you will talk through 10 strategic categories critical to your enhancing your short term trip program. We're certain these sessions will help you and your team achieve greater engagement and program success. Watch the introduction video to learn more about Missions Made Simple:    Here's what you will get from this course: 10 critical tools to equip you for leading missions 10 short video-guided courses Facts about these 10 core functional areas Assessments questions to help you evaluate your current engagement Tips for how to improve One key action item for you and your team Downloadable worksheets with more ideas Discussion board to discuss more ideas with key leaders  Sign up today... we're certain this will help you better your short-term missions program in no time! “This course isn't just for ServiceReef members. This is for all missions leaders to watch and learn—so you're equipped with the tools you need in your missions toolkit." said Will Rogers, Co-Founder of ServiceReef. The course aims to encourage and equip every missions leader and your team to achieve greater engagement and program success.  ServiceReef has set up a special page for missions leaders to be encouraged and equipped with resources to help you grow, connect with others, and give you the confidence you need to lead well. Find out more details and learn about creating a free account today right here.    ServiceReef knows managing mission trips can be time-consuming and stressful. ServiceReef brings all the pieces of missions - participants, forms, team leaders, fundraising, donors, meetings, & more - into a single platform so you can reduce stress and focus on leading your teams. ServiceReef is everything you need for missions Learn more at https://servicereef.com/.
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Healthcare Education as a Challenge and Opportunity for Mission Hospitals and Universities
Today we are featuring guest contributor Dr. James D. Smith. Dr. Smith's medical career was as an Otolaryngologist in an Academic setting. Over the past 16 years he has been a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore. For the past 12 years he has been involved with Medical Education International (MEI) and does three to five short-term mission trips a year which focus on Teaching and Training. He is also on the board of the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons. His time in Singapore has given him an interest and many contacts in SE Asia and China, but he also lived in Kenya for two years and has a special interest in Africa. We hope you enjoy Dr. Smith's insights on healthcare education related to mission hospitals and universities! In the majority of low/middle income countries there is an overwhelming need for increasing the number of healthcare workers to provide basic health care for the population. Christian mission hospitals, universities and mission sending organizations are recognizing the opportunity to provide healthcare education for a local healthcare workforce which has a Christian worldview and can show the love of Christ as healthcare workers with caring and compassion. Opportunities to provide these educational opportunities include starting new Christian nursing or medical schools which may be associated with mission hospitals. For mission hospitals a natural extension to increase healthcare worker capacity is to provide postgraduate education (residency) programs for Christian national physicians who may not have an opportunity to participate in such training.  Doing this training in mission hospitals is an opportunity to mentor residents by providing excellent clinical teaching, help them develop a Christian worldview and show how to share the love of Christ not only in words, but also in deeds.  Another benefit of doing this training in a mission hospital or Christian university is that those being trained are much more likely to stay in their own country and even work in a rural setting. For a program to be successful it is important to do an analysis of the needs of the community and the resources needed to provide an excellent educational program. The resources that need to be considered are finances for starting the program and costs of maintaining the program. Faculty for any training program should be adequate in numbers and experience. It may require expatriate expertise to start a program, but there should be plans to train national physicians to teach and administer the program. Decisions will need to be made as to who and how you will recruit students or residents to the program.