Launching
Your
International
Healthcare
Career
Nicholas Comninellis, MD, MPH
President, Institute for International Medicine
www.inmed.us
Presentation Objectives
At the completion of this presentation, participants
will be able to more effectively:
 Incorporate the principles of good decision
making
 Understand the multiple modalities of
healthcare service toward forgotten people
 Reach wise personal decisions leading
regarding professional commitments
Launching Into International Healthcare:
It’s Not Just Academic
Somolia, 1993
Launching Into International Healthcare
It’s Not Just Academic
Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone 2008
Launching Into International Healthcare
It’s Not Just Academic
Angolan Civil War, 1961-2004
Launching Into International Healthcare
It’s Not Just Academic
Forgotten People Among Us
My Entrance Into
International Medicine
In high school I
read his exemplary
account of courage
and compassion. “I
want to do the
same!” was my
heartfelt conviction.
Two Weeks As A Junior Medical Student
Maternity Hospital in Port-au-Prince Haiti
Two Months As A Senior Medical Student
Clinica Evangelica Morava, Honduras
Two Months As A Resident Physician
Galmi Hospital in Niger & Burkina Faso
One Year As An Attending Physician
Shanghai Charity Hospital
Two Years As An Attending Physician
Kalukembe Hospital, Angola, southern Africa
Who Is The Most Influential Person
In Healthcare Toward Forgotten
People?
Albert
Schweitzer?
1940-50s
Tom Dooley?
1960-70s
Paul
Farmer?
1980-90s
“We want to follow their
example and help, too!”
Record Interest Among Healthcare Professionals & Students
“We know the world’s in need…”
“But, We Have Questions”
“Questions like…”
Big Decisions Regarding
Healthcare Toward
Forgotten People
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Professional specialty
Service modality
Community to serve
Sending organization
Language learning
Time commitment
“In the battle of life we are bombarded with
invitations, solicitations, advertisements, and
apparent commitments. We are inundated on
all sides by forces that clamor for our time,
talents, money, influence, wisdom. We fight
this battle by making decisions!”
Decision Making Is A Skill
Time and discipline
are necessary to develop it!
Essential Decision-Making Skills
Pray for wisdom
 List the options
 Weight the pros & cons
 Get recommendations
 No Hurry

List The Options
Record all options, answers, or
alternatives that come to mind
 Invite friends to brain storm with you
 Solutions often come to us after we
eliminate preconceived notions, and
imagine the formerly inconceivable.

Weigh The Pros
Weight The Cons
 Spencer
Johnson, author of The
One Minute Manager: “Our poor
decisions were based on illusions
we believed at the time, and our
better decisions on realities we
recognized in time.”
Where In The World?
Location Pros & Cons
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1=bad 3=good
Language difficulty
New Opportunity
Inner peace
School for kids
Political stability 3
Potential student work
Potential for impact
TOTAL
Ghana
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
10
Ethiopia
3
3
1
1
2
3
3
15
Angola
2
3
3
1
2
2
3
15
Yemen
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
7
China
1
1
2
2
3
3
14
Get Recommendations
Ask your parents,
friends, professors
 Ask those who’ve made
similar decisions
 Proverbs 15:22: “Plans
fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers
they succeed.”

No Hurry!
 “The
urgent is seldom important &
the important seldom urgent” - U.S.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
 “The plans of the diligent lead to
profit as surely as haste leads to
poverty” - Proverbs 21:5
Become A Skilled
Decision Maker!
Obstacles Ahead!
Launching Into
International
Healthcare Is
Not So Easy
What Are These Obstacles?
Disease ARE Different
Cerebral Malaria In Honduras
Medical Resources ARE Minimal
24 Drug Pharmacy In Angola
Cultural Context IS Challenging
In China, traditional
people are encouraged
to donate blood, but few
are willing, believing that
blood contains one’s “life
force,” and that to have
their blood removed is
therefore a death-defying
event.
Leadership Skills ARE Deficient
Many health problems can’t be solved one
person at a time. They demand communitywide action.
Big Decisions Regarding
Healthcare Toward
Forgotten People
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Professional specialty
Service modality
Community to serve
Sending organization
Language learning
Time commitment
Decisions About
Your Health Profession Specialty
How Should You Go
About Choosing A
Field?
Decisions About
Your Health Profession Specialty

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
Choose the field that most interests
you!
Misconceptions about primary care
Important role for narrow specialists
Special Opportunities
For Pharmacists
Development of disease
management protocols
 Research into greatly needed
diagnostics and therapeutics
 Local pharmaceutical
production and procurement
 Therapeutic safety monitoring

Special Opportunities
For Nurses
Disease prevention
 Health education
 Maternal-child health care
 Health profession education
 Community development
 Patient education
 Disease management

Special Opportunities
For Physical Therapists
Innumerable hidden disabilities
 Unrecognized rehab potential
 Promise of reintegration
 Virtuous profession
 Exemplary role modeling

“What About Training In
Public Health?”
“What About Training In
Tropical Medicine?”
“Equipping healthcare
professionals & students to
serve the forgotten”
Exploring Medical
Missions Conference
International Public Health
Intensive Course
Disease prevention and community development.
Offered each winter, summer and fall.
International Medicine & Public
Health Intensive Hybrid Course
Managing the diseases of poverty in low-resource settings.
Offered each winter, summer and fall.
Courses On Topics Of
• International Public Health
• Diseases Of Poverty
• Cross-Cultural Competency
• Health Leadership
• Disaster Medicine Management
• International HIV Medicine
INMED’s
Core
Learning
Resource
Supervised Service Learning in
Medicine and Public Health
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Africa
Angola
Cameroon
Ethiopia
Ghana
China
Kenya
South Africa
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
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Asia
Bangladesh
China
India
Macau
Pakistan
Philippines
Papua New Guinea
Kudjip Nazarene Hospital
Papua New Guinea
Supervised Service Learning in
Medicine and Public Health
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Americas
Dominican Rep
Ecuador
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
USA
Middle East
Jordan
United Arab Emirates
Clinica Evangelica Morava
Honduras
1:1 Supervised Mentorships
Esteemed Credentials
Esteemed Credentials
Decisions About
Your Service Modality
Primary patient care
 Teaching
 Research
 Administration & leadership
 Public health initiatives
 Combinations of these

Especially Consider
Teaching Opportunities!
Decisions About
A Community To Serve
How Should You Go About
Selecting A Particular
Community?
Decisions About
A Community To Serve
Potential selection criteria:
 Health needs of the people
 Opportunities to assist
 Language & culture
 Previous experience
 Political stability
 Your organization’s presence
 Passion for the people!
Location Pros & Cons








1=bad 3=good
Language difficulty
New opportunity 1
Inner peace
School for kids
Political stability 3
Potential student work
Potential for impact
TOTAL
Ghana
2
3
1
1
1
1
1
10
Ethiopia
3
3
1
1
2
3
3
15
Angola
2
1
3
1
2
2
3
15
Yemen
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
7
China
1
2
2
3
3
14
Decisions About
Your Sending Organization
What Sort Of Sending Organizations
Can You Select From?
Decisions About
Your Sending Organization
Types of organizations in international health:
 NGO
 Faith-based NGO
 Educational Institution
 US Government
 National Government
 For-profit corporation
Decisions About
Your Sending Organization
What Should You
Look For In A
Sending
Organization?
Decisions About
Your Sending Organization
Potential selection criteria:
 Reputation
 National connections
 Financial resources
 Philosophical agreement
 Personality compatibility
 Logistical support
 Passion for the national people!
Decisions About
Language Learning
An enormous commitment,
guided by:
 Existing language skills
 Passion for a people
group
 Available learning
resources
 Nothing to do with high
school language success
Decisions About
Time Commitment
Options to fit your
lifestyle:
 Occasional trips
 Part-time commitment
 Full-time commitment
 Regardless, focus on a
particular community!
Prepare Your Personal Life
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Personal Finances
Personal Health
Family Relationships
Faith & Community
Documents: Passport, Visa, Airlines,
Insurance
How Do You
Managed The
Barrier Of Debt?
Managing Debt
Minimize loans
 Live simply
 Create a reserve and
investment plan
 Live fully while
repaying loans
 Consider paid
positions
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Personal Health
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Healthy lifestyle
Controlled Chronic
Conditions
Vaccinations, prophylaxis
Emergency care &
evacuation
“Acceptable Risk”
Family Relationships
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International intimacy
Cross-cultural kids
Single & satisfied
Way-extended family
Faith & Community
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Your personal
connection with God
Your personal
community of faith
Documents
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Passport
Visa
Airlines
Insurance
Practitioner licenses
Malpractice
Employ Decision-Making Skills
Pray for wisdom
 List the options
 Weight the pros & cons
 Get recommendations
 No Hurry

Find and follow your passion!
...Like Those Role Models Who
Inspire You
Launching YOURSELF
into healthcare toward the world’s
most forgotten people
For next steps in serving forgotten people:
6400 Prospect Ave Suite 338A
Kansas City MO 64132
816-444-6400
www.inmed.us
office@inmed.us