Medical professionals use creativity to teach about swine flu

Using art and entertainment to educate about flu prevention may work

Prevention effort against pandemics often require extraordinary measures, but two medical professionals - one a doctor and the other a school nurse - have applied creative solutions to a big problem.

The two have used art to bring awareness to groups who are at risk: young people. Dr. John Clarke of Baldwin, New York, entered a contest to star in a commercial about preventing the spread of the H1N1 virus by rapping on camera about the illness. His entry got the most votes, making him the winner.

"I'm very excited, mostly because I strongly believe that using rap to reach young people with health information does work," said Clarke, quoted by Newsday.com.

Lowdnes High School in Florida was the site of a similar contest thought up by school nurse Laura Rowen. She challenged students to create posters reminding all who see them to wash their hands frequently. Now there is scarcely a wall in the school that doesn't feature a poster reminding students to perform the small but effective sanitary act.

While most medical training programs focus on more complex medical data, healthcare students may do well in realizing that small preventative efforts like these can have a big impact.