Monday round-up

Three interesting articles in the wide world of mass media that I just couldn't pass up. The first two are from my local newspaper, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The first article is about a fourth grade teacher who took her own illness as a chance to teach her students about medicine. Their lessons included a trip the hospital and a surgical suite and visits from a surgeon, a nurse, an anesthesiologist and a surgical technician who explained their jobs and answered all their students questions. Students learned about robotic surgery techniques and all the hard work it takes to become a doctor. And in the process, the students also learned about the complexity of keeping people healthy.

You can find the first article here: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=761844.

The second article from my hometown paper is about a program at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine to help first year medical students learn about their future patients by partnering them to learn about and from older adults. Students learn that the realities of old age do not always fit the stereotypes and that health issues encompass far more than a list of symptoms. Everyone hopes the students will carry these lessons with them as they grow in their medical education and face the hard realities of ever-shortening visit times.

You can find the second article here: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=761843.

And finally, in entertainment new, the American Medical Association is furious about the "gratuitous depictions of smoking" in the new movies The Incredible Hulk. Apparently the bad guy is almost never seen without a cigar in his mouth. The physicians' group is worried about a movie marketed toward children with any references to tobacco use.

You can find the final article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/business/media/16smoke.html?ex=1371268800&en=da83254074d41053&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink.