ABSTRACT #34

CLIMATE CHANGE AND MEDICAL EDUCATION: UNDERSTANDING NATIONWIDE CURRICULAR EFFORTS

Olivia Blanchard, Lucy Greenwald, Perry Sheffield

PURPOSE AND GOALS: Despite increased awareness of the public and global health ramifications of climate change, there is a lack of curriculum discussing climate change within medical education. In response, calls have gone out from organizations such as the American Medical Association and the National Academy of Sciences for physicians and medical students to develop a knowledge of climate change’s medical relevance.

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 change-related health (CCRH) into medical education.

METHODS: We conducted a literature review to identify existing curricular efforts, potential interviewee candidates, and professional societies that could be leveraged to support CCRH curriculum development. We hosted semi-structured interviews (n=9) with faculty members at different institutions across the country who have been involved with climate change education.

EVALUATION PLAN: After conducting the interviews, we familiarized ourselves with the transcribed notes, and coded them thematically to identify key ideas within each conversation. We pursued a qualitative approach to identify a set of consistent challenges in CCRH implementation and begin an inter-institutional conversation on how we can support our colleagues and peers in expanding climate change-related health education.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS: From our series of interviews with faculty members around the country involved in medical education efforts, we developed a stronger understanding of some of the key challenges in teaching medical students about the global health crisis that is climate change: 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, developing funded faculty positions, and creatively integrating curricular materials are just a few of the approaches that have helped CCRH initiatives to succeed.

A better identification of the challenges and drivers for success in curricular efforts can provide a roadmap to more efficient implementation of CCRH topics within medical education.

REFLECTIVE CRITIQUE:

A limitation of this study is that these interviews comprise only a small sample of institutions engaging in CCRH curriculum development; further, within the institutions represented by these conversations, there was a geographic majority of institutions on the East Coast. This limitation touches upon one of the most commonly discussed challenges within the greater discussion of formal CCRH initiative leadership, that of siloing of efforts amongst and within medical schools nationally.

These interviews represent only the very beginning of what must be a much larger inter-institutional conversation dedicated to climate change in medical education.