Abstract
BackgroundIndividual, community, and societal health is impacted by the environment, specifically by air, water and soil pollution, and climate change. Poor environmental conditions have been associated with many illness exacerbations. Although global nursing organizations have increased their environmental health focus, evidence is lacking that Canadian nurse leaders and organizations are similarly invested.PurposeThe purpose of this analysis was to explore the policies of Canadian nursing regulatory bodies and associations on nursing practice specific to environmental health.MethodsA content analysis of nursing focused position statements and competency documents was conducted to assess Canadian nursing policies in environmental health. Publicly available position statements and competency documents regarding health and the environment were retrieved from Canadian nursing regulatory colleges and nursing associations, the Canadian Nursing Associations, and the International Council of Nurses. All documents were coded inductively and thematically analyzed.ResultsIn total, 22 documents were retrieved which consisted of 11 policy statements from nursing associations and 11 competency documents from nursing regulators and national associations. Four themes were generated: collaboration, language of engagement, nursing actions, and social justice.ConclusionThere is a gap between nursing policies and competencies directing nursing action related to the health of the environment across Canada. There is an opportunity to improve eco-literacy within the nursing profession, undergraduate education and to produce nursing research on environmental health.
Highlights
Individual, community, and societal health is impacted by the environment, by air, water and soil pollution, and climate change
A content analysis was used to explore the role of Canadian nursing leadership regarding nursing action and care of environmental health
The Canadian Nurses’ Association (CNA) and Canadian Medical Association (CMA) collaborated on one position statement, which was included as one of the five statements published by the CNA
Summary
Individual, community, and societal health is impacted by the environment, by air, water and soil pollution, and climate change. Purpose: The purpose of this analysis was to explore the policies of Canadian nursing regulatory bodies and associations on nursing practice specific to environmental health. Methods: A content analysis of nursing focused position statements and competency documents was conducted to assess Canadian nursing policies in environmental health. Conclusion: There is a gap between nursing policies and competencies directing nursing action related to the health of the environment across Canada. Environmental health is defined as promoting human well-being through limiting exposure to hazardous agents and conditions in the environment around a person, such as water, soil, air, and food pollution The effects of poor environmental health are well documented (Frumkin & Haines, 2019; Goodman, 2013; World Health Organization, 2018), advocacy efforts in the health care professions to improve environmental health have received little attention (Lilienfeld et al, 2018)
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