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'Pro-choice Community' Should Find New 'Way Of Talking About Reproductive Freedom,' Opinion Piece Says
"Most of the push-back" from antiabortion-rights advocates to a recent e-mail message from author Judy Blume on behalf of Planned Parenthood -- which asked mailing list subscribers for donations -- was generated by an article in the antiabortion-rights publication LifeNews, columnist Meghan Daum writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece. The article put a "heavy, misrepresentative spin" on Blume"s message, which urged donors to "do all [they] can to support" the increasing number of women turning to Planned Parenthood centers for health care during the economic downturn.The LifeNews article said, "Blume notes how more women are seeking abortions from Planned Parenthood because of the difficult economy, and she urges readers of the e-mail to use that as a reason to support the abortion business." According to Daum, "this is just the kind of thing that makes abortion-rights advocates apoplectic," noting that abortion-rights advocates "fired-back" in the "blogosphere ... imparting the statistic about abortion making up only 3% of Planned Parenthood"s services and pointing out that many of the women being yelled at by picketers in clinic parking lots aren"t even pregnant but, rather, trying to avoid getting pregnant." Daum continues that the organization, much like Blume, "occupies a clear position on the post-Roe cultural map," adding, "Generally speaking, if you"re on board with abortion rights, you"re on board with Planned Parenthood." In addition, if you are against abortion rights, the "organization is the headquarters of Godlessness," she adds. Daum writes that it is not difficult to see why Planned Parenthood enlisted Blume -- an "icon of 1970s-era feminism and its efforts on behalf of sex education and women"s health" -- because she conjures "nostalgia for the early days of the fight that makes pro-choicers want to keep fighting today."Daum writes that as she watched this "saga unfold in [her] inbox," she was "struck by a troubling question. Even though Blume may not be associated with abortion in and of itself … is there something about her persona that signals a lack of dispassion about its ramifications? Is she reminding people of a time when, in the relief of Roe being decided, there was a cultural perception that abortion was a simple procedure that needn"t come with attendant emotional baggage?"Daum adds that there is "no denying that the language and overall tone around abortion has changed. Despite what many pro-life groups seem to think, most abortion-rights advocates prefer "safe, legal and rare" to "no big deal."" According to Daum, President Obama, "pro-choice though he is, is hardly strident -- and even a little evasive -- on the issue." She adds that Obama favors language about reducing the need for abortions and "finding common ground with the other side." Daum notes that the pop cultural arena "has become downright allergic to the issue" of abortion, with a recent movie coining the term "shmashmortion" because the characters "can"t even get the word out." Daum adds that although Blume "was undoubtedly effective" at bringing in funding for Planned Parenthood, perhaps what might have been "even more radical is if the pro-choice community could find a way of talking about reproductive freedom that neither reverts to the perceived casualness of the 1970s nor panders to the "shmashmortion" dialect of today. "Safe, legal and rare" comes close. But "safe, legal, rare and a big deal" might be even better" (Daum, Los Angeles Times, 5/14).
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Blue Cross And Blue Shield Of North Carolina 'Double-Crossing' Obama With Attack Ads, Krugman Says
"Less than two weeks" after health industry interest groups pledged to work with President Obama on health reform, "the double-crossing is already well under way" as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina prepares a series of ads criticizing a public plan option that might be included in health reform legislation, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman writes. Krugman says, "The medical-industrial complex has called the president"s bluff," adding, "It polished its image by showing up ... and promising cooperation, then promptly went back to doing all it can to block real change." According to Krugman, "The insurers and the drug companies are, in effect, betting that Obama will be afraid to call them out on their duplicity." He concludes, "It"s up to Obama to prove them wrong" (Krugman, New York Times, 5/22).
News of the day
Rampant Disease Osteoporosis: Under-diagnosed, Under-treated - Experts Call For Earlier Diagnosis And Therapy
"With a continuously ageing population the incidence of osteoporosis is steadily rising. This does not only pose problems to the individuals concerned but is also an enormous challenge for our societies" according to Professor Wolfhart Puhl, past president of the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT). Prof. Puhl, of the Orthopç¤dikum Allgç¤u, Germany, who is in Vienna for the EFORT Congress, emphasized that the problem"s "dimension is frequently underestimated. Policy makers and funding agencies do not always consider this development sufficiently in their planning."
Oncology

Simulation Game Helps Students Learn Dental Implant Procedures

A realistic computer game will soon be used to help dental students worldwide learn and reinforce dental implant procedures. The Virtual Dental Implant Training Simulation Program is designed to help students in diagnostics, decision making and treatment protocols. It was designed by Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry faculty and students and BreakAway, Ltd., a developer of game-based technology for training, experimentation and decision-making analysis. "There"s a lot of enthusiasm in the global dental and medical communities to use virtual reality and simulation as a tool to convey and reinforce information and ensure competency levels," says Dr. Roman Cibirka, MCG vice president for instruction and enrollment management and the program"s project director. He presented the game and its 18-month development process today at the fifth annual Games for Health Conference in Boston. Dental implants are tiny screws surgically placed in the jaw to act as artificial roots for prosthetic teeth. About 25 percent of adults 60 and older no longer have any natural teeth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the need for this procedure could increase with the country"s aging population. "The program was an opportunity to align the defined need to enhance the depth and penetration of implant therapy knowledge in undergraduate dental education with my vision of using gaming to reach the millennial student," Dr. Cibirka says. His highest priorities were instructional effectiveness, patient safety and a fun learning environment for the students. Research shows that health care providers who practice clinical skills via simulation have better patient outcomes than those who don"t. The implant simulation game uses multiple patients and clinical scenarios that can be randomly selected, letting students interact with virtul patients by asking about their medical history, examining them and arriving at a diagnosis. Like humans, the virtual patients have different personalities, and students must tailor treatment based on the mental, physical and emotional needs of the individual. If the virtual patient is a candidate for implant therapy, the simulation then ventures into a virtual clinical treatment area, where students decide the type, location and orientation of the implants, type and location of anesthesia and tools for surgery. "It"s realistic. If the student doesn"t place anesthesia in the right spot, the patient screams," Dr. Cibirka says. The game uses Pulse!! Virtual Learning Lab, developed by BreakAway in partnership with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi through funding from the Office of Naval Research. As effective as the learning tool is, it is intended to supplement - not replace - actual clinical training. "It"s anytime, anywhere education; a classroom without walls," Dr. Cibirka says. "I think it really fortifies the entire educational experience and capitalizes on the needs of this generation." To ensure the game reaches the millennial generation, Dr. Cibirka brought students into the design process. Sarah Padolsky, a second-year MCG dental student, served as the student project manager. Student reviews have been overwhelmingly positive and added great value to the final product, says Dr. Cibirka, noting he also worked with a team of faculty subject matter experts to ensure educational accuracy. The program was funded as part of a $6.2 million contract between MCG and Nobel Biocare, a leading manufacturer of implants and equipment, which also established the School of Dentistry as a Nobel Biocare Center for Excellence. The program is now being evaluated for functionality and instructional usefulness by more than 20 dental schools in the Nobel Biocare University Partnership Program. This summer it will be launched at 25 universities worldwide, potentially reaching 15,000 dental students, Dr. Cibirka says. In most instances, the program will be used during the third and fourth years of dental education, depending on the curricula of each institution. Dr. Cibirka hopes it will be part of MCG"s dental curriculum soon. "We want the students that we graduate to be the best dentists they can be because they have learned better and feel more confident in the techniques they"ve learned, and this is another tool to do so," Dr. Cibirka says. Paula Hinely Medical College of Georgia


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