The Climate Change Conversation: Understanding Nationwide Medical Education Efforts.

Abstract

Despite increasing awareness of the public and global health ramifications of climate change, there is a lack of curricula discussing climate change within medical education. Where greater societal awareness and improved scientific understanding have begun to grab the attention of members of the medical education community, there is the precedent, the desire, and the need to incorporate climate-health topics into medical education. We hosted semi-structured interviews (n=9) with faculty members at different institutions across the country who have been involved with climate change education. We pursued a qualitative approach to begin an inter-institutional conversation and better understand what support our colleagues and peers need to expand climate-health education, and we identified a set of key barriers to implementation: Obtaining Institutional Resources, Formalizing Initiative Leadership, and Empowering Faculty Involvement. We also began to appreciate the creative strategies that programs across the country have employed to tackle these challenges. Working with interested students to manage workload, advocating for funded faculty positions, and integrating curricular materials in multiple formats are just a few of the approaches that have helped climate-health initiatives to achieve longevity and penetration in the curriculum. A better identification of the challenges and drivers for success in curricular efforts can provide a roadmap to more efficient implementation of climate-health topics within medical education.