Climate care is health care: A call for collaborative pharmacy action

Abstract

Climate change and ecosystem degradation threaten human health and exacerbate pre‐existing social determinants of health. The prescription drug sector accounts for a significant portion of health care system contributions to greenhouse gas and waste production. Pharmacists are therefore well‐positioned to transform health care toward environmentally sustainable models; however, additional pharmacist education on climate mitigation and sustainable practice is needed. A team of practicing pharmacists and pharmacy students from the United States and Australia aimed to define pharmacists' roles in environmental stewardship by evaluating pre‐existing pharmacy‐led efforts in reducing waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and other health care‐associated environmental impacts. We also describe opportunities for education in pharmacist training as a means to enhance the profession's capacity for environmentally sustainable health care practice and leadership. Information on specific drugs' ecological footprints is increasingly available; pharmacists, as drug information experts, can incorporate sustainability considerations into their drug procurement and prescribing recommendations. Pharmacists also play a critical role in public education about environmentally responsible drug disposal. Finally, we suggest collaborative steps that U.S. organizations involved in pharmacy education could take to ensure that future “practice readiness” includes competence in sustainable health care practices.

Students' conception of local responses to global problems for a more peaceful and sustainable world: A collaborative education project between Brazil, Canada, Qatar, and New Zealand

“…The results provided in Table 4 demonstrate that students were able to reflect on the global issue and link learning with local pharmacy practice examples, which are in line with results from other disciplines 5 . These findings align recent calls for the profession to consider environmental sustainability and with previous studies that state that, students must have a broad understanding of global issues before being able to relate concepts to local environments 15‐17 . Specifically, there is a call for understanding of all types of global issues including those relating to environment, economics, politics, and health 17 .…”

“…5 These findings align recent calls for the profession to consider environmental sustainability and with previous studies that state that, students must have a broad understanding of global issues before being able to relate concepts to local environments. [15][16][17] Specifically, there is a call for understanding of all types of global issues including those relating to environment, economics, politics, and health. 17 Relating to the United Nations sustainable development goals, these findings go beyond health outcomes and may work to improve global sustainability as a whole.…”

How Should Responsibility for Proper Medication Disposal Be Shared?

“…Pharmacists, in particular, are uniquely positioned to educate the public on medication disposal, given their medication expertise, accessibility, and service as the usual last point of contact for patients. 32 However, there are major barriers to promotion of disposal services at the pharmacy, including cost, training, and workflow challenges. 33,34,35,36 Although patients are major contributors to improper medication disposal due to lack of awareness or access to disposal services, misunderstanding of expiration dates, and medication stockpiling, 37 many patients are receptive to disposal services after learning about them.…”

Climate change at a crossroads: Embedding environmental sustainability into the core of pharmacy education

“…17 One example often quoted is the Association for Medical Education in Europe, which published a statement to “provide a global, collaborative, representative and inclusive vision for educating an interprofessional health care workforce that can deliver sustainable health care and promote planetary health.” 18 Despite these declarations, true implementation of pharmacy environmental sustainability education is lacking. 10 , 17 There is a strong need to move beyond the simple stance that acknowledges climate change is, indeed, a threat and move into an aligned, “collaborative call to action.” 19 At present, the absence of unified education and training for pharmacists to combat the climate crisis represents a direct threat to the crisis itself.…”

“…For emerging pharmacy professionals, current initiatives focus on environmental sustainability being integrated into the curriculum, 20 , 21 embedded into mandatory coursework 19 , 22 , 23 via elective courses 24 , 25 or as extracurricular activities. 26 - 28 These approaches have not yet been validated or scaled across more than 1 university setting, nor do they close the gap of what pharmacists need to know, and do, to combat the climate crisis.…”