Potential Best Practices Topics

  1. Missiological Strategies
    • church planting & growth
      • using health related ministries (HRM’s) for church planting in restricted access locations
      • using HRM’s for church planting where a strong national church already exists
      • how can HRMs be used to strengthen the local church?
    • unreached peoples
    • Receiver/Host discipleship
    • Goer/Participant discipleship
    • avoiding Messiah Complex and ethnocentrism
    • Evangelism though curative care delivery (bridge-building, love, cultural adaptation)
  2. Strategic Alliances/Networking and Partnership issues
    • Coordination/Collaboration with host country health systems
      • public health/PHC
      • government facilities – community health centers, clinics, hospitals
      • host church health workers
      • private health providers –
    • Coordination/Collaboration with secular NGO/relief and development organizations
    • Coordination/Collaboration with other Christian NGO/church/relief and development groups
    • avoiding unhealthy dependency while developing a healthy interdependency
  3. Legal aspects
    • permission – curative care with legal permission from host country (Ministry of Health and ?other licensing boards?)
    • liability
    • bribes
    • medication handling
    • patients rights-informed consent
    • licensure — medical and nursing
  4. Curative care issues
    • Surgical issues
      • informed consent
      • scope of practice –
      • skill transfer
    • Medication use
      • inordinate focus
      • expiration
      • limitations – using meds on STHRM that are unavailable in the host country
      • risks & benefits
      • conformity with WHO recommendations
    • Language proficiency and translation for medical/health information.
    • Appropriate technology
  5. Education
    • Host/Receiver health workers
    • Sent/Goer participants – short-term workers may have as much to learn as hosts
    • Integrating with host country teaching institutions
    • Providing CME type credits in rural settings
  6. Primary Health Care initiatives
    • cooperation with UN MDG’s
    • how do we define PHC?
    • how do you actually do PHC as defined by the Alma Ata declaration – with the people and not just for them.
    • who should do PHC? Are physicians the best to fill this role? Nurses?
    • health promoters
    • Mid-level providers — roles and scope of practice
  7. Research efforts
    • spiritual & physical effectiveness of interventions
    • effects of STHRM’s (short term health related missions)
    • how to most effectively work in collaboration/coordination with other HR initiatives.
    • Identifying and measuring outcomes (using metrics)
    • Ethical standards
    • Case studies
  8. Health in Transformational Development
  9. Strengthening Health Systems
    • role for being advocates for the poor
    • role in promoting just healthcare systems
    • facilities administration/management
    • shouldering the cost-issues of sustainability