Teaching medical students about the impacts of climate change on human health

Gomez, Jason; Goshua, Anna; Pokrajac, Nicholas; Erny, Barbara; Auerbach, Paul S.; Nadeau, Kari; Gisondi, Michael A.

doi:10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100020

Cited by 22 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, they often find it difficult to translate this desire into action due to constraints such as lack of time, the complexity of their practice, the weight of established habits, and insufficient training on the subject [ 9 ]. It has been known that offering training in PH to medical students leads to a significant increase in their beliefs about the need for climate change education and related physician responsibilities [ 10 ]. Intentions to change personal behaviors and apply new knowledge in future clinical practice have also significantly increased.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An e-Learning Course to Train General Practitioners in Planetary Health: Pilot Intervention Study

Tourrette,

Tostain,

Kozub

et al. 2024

JMIR Form Res

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Background According to the World Health Organization, climate and ecological emergencies are already major threats to human health. Unabated climate change will cause 3.4 million deaths per year by the end of the century, and health-related deaths in the population aged ≥65 years will increase by 1540%. Planetary health (PH) is based on the understanding that human health and human civilization depend on flourishing natural systems and the wise stewardship of those natural systems. Health care systems collectively produce global emissions equivalent to those of the fifth largest country on earth, and they should take steps to reduce their environmental impact. Primary care in France accounts for 23% of greenhouse gas emissions in the health care sector. General practitioners (GPs) have an important role in PH. The course offers first-year GP residents of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine a blended-learning course on environmental health. An e-learning module on PH, lasting 30 to 45 minutes, has been introduced in this course. Objective The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the e-learning module on participants’ knowledge and behavior change. Methods This was a before-and-after study. The module consisted of 3 parts: introduction, degradation of ecosystems and health (based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and planetary limits), and ecoresponsibility (based on the Shift Project report on the impact of the health care system on the environment). The questionnaire used Likert scales to self-assess 10 points of knowledge and 5 points of PH-related behavior. Results A total of 95 participants completed the pre- and posttest questionnaires (response rate 55%). The mean scores for participants’ pretest knowledge and behaviors were 3.88/5 (SD 0.362) and 3.45/5 (SD 0.705), respectively. There was no statistically significant variation in the results according to age or gender. The pretest mean score of participants who had already taken PH training was statistically better than those who had not taken the PH training before this course (mean 4.05, SD 0.16 vs mean 3.71, SD 0.374; P<.001). Conclusions The PH module of the Primary Care Environment and Health course significantly improved self-assessment knowledge scores and positively modified PH behaviors among GP residents. Further work is needed to study whether these self-declared behaviors are translated into practice.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An e-Learning Course to Train General Practitioners in Planetary Health: Pilot Intervention Study

Tourrette,

Tostain,

Kozub

et al. 2024

JMIR Form Res

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“…9 While interprofessional health students and clinicians recognize that environmental exposures and climate change are impacting the health of their patients, [10][11][12][13] they cite a lack of education on these topics as a primary barrier to counseling patients. 14,15 In published literature, several frameworks [16][17][18] and curricula have been developed for educating learners (de ned for the scope of this paper to include medical students, residents, fellows, nursing students, and advanced practice provider students) [19][20][21] and clinicians (de ned for the scope of this paper as physicians, nurses, and advanced practice providers) 22 on health impacts of environmental factors in a didactic setting. However, only a few studies have evaluated curricula that speci cally address how learners and clinicians should approach a clinical encounter with an at-risk patient.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short animated video increases knowledge and comfort in clinical counseling on inequitable health impacts of air pollution among interprofessional health learners and clinicians

Doheny,

Inglis,

Boll

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background Air pollution is a major health risk contributing to global morbidity and mortality, yet clinicians do not routinely engage in counseling patients on this topic. Clinicians cite their lack of education as a common barrier. We developed a two-minute animated video on mitigating air pollution health risks and evaluated the efficacy of this video as an educational tool.Methods In March-June 2021, a convenience sample of Minnesota interprofessional health learners and clinicians viewed the video and completed an electronic survey that assessed pre-/post-video intervention changes in a) didactic and clinically applied knowledge on health impacts of air pollution, b) perceived comfort in identifying at-risk patients and counseling them on relevant preventive health behaviors, c) intentions/barriers to counseling patients, d) beliefs and attitudes related to the health harms of air pollution, and e) perceptions of the overall acceptability of the intervention.Results The 218 participants included learners and clinicians in medicine, nursing, and advanced practice provision. Respondents’ knowledge scores and self-reported level of comfort in identifying high-risk patients and counseling them on preventative health behaviors increased significantly pre-/post-intervention. The video also effectively altered participants’ misperceptions about the health impacts of air pollution. While less than half of participants (43.6%) reported they intended to engage in counseling patients as a result of watching the video, 52.3% indicated they might do so. Lack of time during clinical encounters and lack of training were reported as persistent barriers to engaging in this counseling. Overall, participants found the video to be an effective educational tool, indicating that they wanted their colleagues and patients to watch the video and would like to see further short animated videos on other environmental health topics.Conclusions A two-minute animated educational video significantly improved knowledge of inequitable health impacts of air pollution and improved perceived comfort in identifying and counseling at-risk patients among health professional learners and clinicians regardless of profession, level of training, or pre-intervention knowledge level. Academic health professional training programs and health systems should consider adopting this modality as a tool for educating learners, clinicians, and patients on environmental health risks.

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“…Even though planetary health frameworks, consensus statements, and early teaching experience have begun to be reported, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 persistent barriers to the implementation of planetary health concepts, including the health impacts of climate change and the principles of sustainable health care, are evident within medical education. 11 , 12 Consequently, the implementation of this content into predominantly biomedically focused curricula is frequently piecemeal, opportunistic, unidirectional and poorly related to clinical practice.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, addressing the socio‐economic and environmental determinants of health under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals framework ( https://sdgs.un.org/goals ), indigenous eco‐health‐centric leadership, promotion of systems thinking and change, and experiential, practice‐based learning that cultivates interprofessional teamwork, advocacy and leadership development. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 15 A 2019 interactive perspective provides a useful open access resource in this direction. 16 More recently, Emory University students and staff reported their experience in the incorporation of climate content into selected aspects of the pre‐clinical curriculum.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Internationally, the emerging curriculum principles to address this challenge align with global health priorities. Specifically, addressing the socio‐economic and environmental determinants of health under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals framework (https://sdgs.un.org/goals), indigenous eco‐health‐centric leadership, promotion of systems thinking and change, and experiential, practice‐based learning that cultivates interprofessional teamwork, advocacy and leadership development 3‐7,9,10,15 . A 2019 interactive perspective provides a useful open access resource in this direction 16 .…”

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confidence: 99%

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A planetary health–organ system map to integrate climate change and health content into medical curricula

Burch

Beaton

Simpson

et al. 2022

Medical Journal of Australia

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Teaching medical students about the impacts of climate change on human health

Cited by 22 publications

References 5 publications

An e-Learning Course to Train General Practitioners in Planetary Health: Pilot Intervention Study

An e-Learning Course to Train General Practitioners in Planetary Health: Pilot Intervention Study

Short animated video increases knowledge and comfort in clinical counseling on inequitable health impacts of air pollution among interprofessional health learners and clinicians

A planetary health–organ system map to integrate climate change and health content into medical curricula

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