Abstract
Climate change poses a major threat to public health. The healthcare sector itself is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly in high-income countries such as Canada and the United States. Providing medical learners with education on this topic has been identified as an important component of efforts to reduce GHG emissions; however, there is a lack of tools available both for providing education on healthcare sustainability, and for integrating this topic into postgraduate medical curricula. In response to this, the Green Medical Teaching Unit (MTU) team at Dalhousie University developed the Planetary Health Rounds, an educational initiative aimed at integrating climate change concepts and healthcare sustainability into the Internal Medicine residency curriculum. Through the use of the open-source HealthcareLCA Database, a living repository of data on the GHG emissions associated with common healthcare practices, learners estimate the total emissions associated with a patient’s admission and discuss ways to mitigate these emissions during an end-of-rotation teaching session. The Planetary Health Rounds, implemented in 2023, have been well-received by trainee physicians despite some challenges having been encountered. These include limitations on participation and scheduling difficulties resulting from service demands, an absence of comprehensive emissions data for internal medicine-related care, issues with the generalizability of said data, and consistent access to a planetary-health expert to guide discussion during rounds. Overall, this initiative provides a novel way of incorporating teaching on climate change and health to postgraduate training curriculums.
Presenters
Loukman GhoutiStudent, Doctor of Medicine (MD), Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Planetary, Climate, Advocacy, Education
