417TF Climate Change and Human Health for the Practicing Clinician

Abstract

In 2016, the American College of Physicians (ACP) published a position paper that identified tackling climate change as an opportunity to dramatically improve human health. It states that physicians should support efforts to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change and engage the public, their colleagues, community, and lawmakers about the health risks posed by climate change. However, many medical students and physicians feel that they have minimal understanding of the linkages between climate change and human health. A 2013 survey found that 34-40% of each year’s graduating medical students between 2009-2013 believed that their instruction in environmental health was inadequate. This curriculum aims to address this educational gap by leading all graduating 4th year medical students in a planetary health module. 1) Explain how shifts in climate, natural resources, technology, economy and demography may affect the provision of health care in the future; 2) Apply critical appraisal and science communication skills to describe climate health risks; 3) Apply systems thinking and multidisciplinary perspectives to develop strategies to promote health service sustainability; 4) Advocate for planetary health values in physicians groups and national conversation. All 4th year medical students graduating from the University of Rochester take a month-long course called “Successful Interning.” The planetary health module will be held as part of this course. Students will have prerequisite reading to complete before starting the course. There will be a 1-hour Power Point lecture outlining the basic principles behind climate change and the link to human health. Following this, the students will gather in small groups based on the region they will be in for their residency for a 2-hour workshop. Faculty mediators will facilitate discussion on how each region will be affected by climate change, assist students in outlining exposure pathways, and help students discover what their specialty should expect in terms of patient experience and health effects stemming from these changes. At the end of the workshop, each group will briefly present the following: How the region they are practicing, and their patients will be affected by climate change, and a strategy for climate adaptation/mitigation. Course evaluation will be conducted by pre- and post-course REDCap surveys determining self-perceived knowledge. At the end of their intern year, students will be emailed a follow-up survey asking how relevant they feel the course content is to their current practice. Due to changes in course scheduling related to COVID-19, this course could not be carried out as planned. A one-hour lecture on planetary health for the practicing clinician was substituted, with the intent to return to the original full-length format next spring. The goal of this curriculum is to provide future physicians with the background and skills to tackle climate change in order to improve human health and avoid dire environmental consequences. Participants will learn strategies for climate adaptation and mitigation specific to their region and future practice population.