Mapping climate change and health into the medical curriculum: co-development of a “planetary health – organ system map” for graduate medical education

Abstract

PurposeWithin the context of a review of a Doctor of Medicine graduate curriculum, medical students partnered with faculty staff to co-develop a novel curriculum resource exemplifying the integration of planetary determinants of health into existing medical curricula.MethodWe undertook qualitative methodologies involving a planetary health literature review and curriculum mapping exercise in three parts between April 2018 - May 2021. In part one, a student focus group sought students’ perceptions on opportunities for climate-change related teaching. Part two involved two 5-hour workshops that mapped planetary health principles to classical organ systems-based teaching areas. Part three consisted of curriculum mapping expert review.ResultsParticipatory workshops involved 26 students and positioned students as leaders and partners in curriculum development alongside academics and clinicians. Final synthesis produced a comprehensive infographic rich document covering seven organ systems plus healthcare’s ecological footprint, the role of medical students and opportunities for applied skills and behaviours.ConclusionsThe student-staff co-production method adopted here promotes higher order relational and extended abstract reasoning by students, the ultimate task of any higher education. This approach, and the open access resource generated, provides an integrated and novel planetary health framework, supporting students to be leaders for a sustainable future.Practice Points[1]This project provides a methodology to overcome barriers to curriculum-wide integration of planetary determinants of health and a template to move beyond stand-alone planetary health workshops or population health case studies.[2]Student and educator co-development of planetary health teaching and learning resources promotes higher order relational and extended abstract reasoning by students, the ultimate task of any higher education.[3]Integrating planetary health supports emerging clinicians in all areas of medicine to be leaders for a sustainable future.

Pharmacy students' perceptions on environmental sustainability in pharmacy education and practice

“…45 In Australia, the medical curriculum has already been mapped to integrate climate change and health into established organ-systems based teaching, with ‘ready to use’ resources developed to fit in to existing programs. 46 , 47 Additionally, another strategy for overcoming curricular crowding is to shift emphasis from obtaining knowledge to developing competencies. Accordingly, the AMEE Consensus Statement emphasises transferable skills and values, and also provides guidance for health educators on planetary health content and learning and assessment resources.…”

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

“…The final synthesis, inclusion of images, figures and executive summaries were completed by the Curriculum Taskforce student members, with design support from Doctors for the Environment Australia. The outcome was an infographic‐rich curriculum resource, a planetary health–organ system map, 20 which is being used as a resource in first year medical teaching.…”

Climate Change, Environment, and Health: The implementation and initial evaluation of a longitudinal, integrated curricular theme and novel competency framework at Harvard Medical School

“…In undergraduate medical education, frameworks for educational concepts, competencies, and innovation in climate education have been described [8][9][10]. Internationally, institutional efforts to integrate climate education into medical school curricula have been reported [11,12]. Large surveys have evaluated climate change and planetary health educational initiatives in medical schools globally, [13] and nationally, including the United Kingdom, [14] Australia, [11] and Ireland [15].…”

“…Internationally, institutional efforts to integrate climate education into medical school curricula have been reported [11,12]. Large surveys have evaluated climate change and planetary health educational initiatives in medical schools globally, [13] and nationally, including the United Kingdom, [14] Australia, [11] and Ireland [15]. In Canada, national surveys were used to understand medical students' experiences, attitudes, and interests in climate health education [16].…”