Modern Media and Healthcare: Beyond Viagra and /Scrubs/

News , entertainment, commercials, TV, movies, on line and social: modern media is the primary source of health information for consumers. Much is helpful but there is also no shortage of contradictory and incorrect health content. In this course we’ll look at various media forms and their influence on healthcare perceptions, expectations, priorities and beliefs. Current examples will flesh out how particular health issues break into public consciousness, evolve and drive healthcare policy, citing case histories where media spin led to pseudo medical crisis and consumer hysteria. The course will prompt analytic skills to comprehend "raw" medical studies to contrast with popular media interpretations while at the other extreme will look at content including House, Scrubs, and even mens' and womens' health commercials and their contribution to the healthcare landscape. The term culminates in hands on multi-media project to prompt a consumer response to an emerging health issue or behavior.