Sarah Catherine Walpole1,2, Aditya Vyas3, Janie Maxwell4, Ben J Canny5, Robert Woollard6, Caroline Wellbery7, Kathleen E Leedham-Green8, Peter Musaeus9, Uzma Tufail-Hanif10, Karina Pavão Patrício11, Hanna-Andrea Rother12. 1. a Hull York Medical School , Hull University , Hull , UK. 2. b Medecins Sans Frontiers , Democratic Republic of Congo. 3. c Norwich Medical School , University of East Anglia , Norwich , UK. 4. d The Nossal Institute for Global Health , The University of Melbourne , Melbourne , VIC , Australia. 5. e School of Medicine , University of Tasmania , Hobart , Australia. 6. f Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine , University of British Columbia , Vancouver , BC , Canada. 7. g Department of Family Medicine , Georgetown University Medical Center , Washington , DC , USA. 8. h Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences , King's College London , London , UK. 9. i Centre for Health Sciences Education, Aarhus University , Aarhus , Denmark. 10. j Master of Surgery Degree Programme Co-ordinator , University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh , UK. 11. k Public Health Department, Medical School of Botucatu , Universidade Estadual Paulista , Sao Paulo , Brazil. 12. l Division of Environmental Health , School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town , Rondebosch , South Africa.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Global environmental change is associated with significant health threats. The medical profession can address this challenge through advocacy, health system adaptation and workforce preparedness. Stewardship of health systems with attention to their environmental impacts can contribute to mitigation of and adaptation to negative health impacts of environmental change. Medical schools have an integral role in training doctors who understand the interdependence of ecosystems and human health. Yet integrating environmental perspectives into busy medical curricula is not a simple task. CONTENT: At the 2016 Association for Medical Education in Europe conference, medical educators, students and clinicians from six continents discussed these challenges in a participatory workshop. Here we reflect on emerging themes from the workshop and how to plan for curricular change. Firstly, we outline recent developments in environmental health and associated medical education. Secondly, we reflect on our process and outcomes during this innovative approach to international collaboration. Thirdly, we present learning objectives which cover core content for environmentally accountable medical curricula, developed through a reflective process of international collaboration integrating current literature and the workshop outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: International collaboration can bring together diverse perspectives and provide critical insights for the inclusion of environmental health into basic education for medical practitioners.
BACKGROUND: Global environmental change is associated with significant health threats. The medical profession can address this challenge through advocacy, health system adaptation and workforce preparedness. Stewardship of health systems with attention to their environmental impacts can contribute to mitigation of and adaptation to negative health impacts of environmental change. Medical schools have an integral role in training doctors who understand the interdependence of ecosystems and human health. Yet integrating environmental perspectives into busy medical curricula is not a simple task. CONTENT: At the 2016 Association for Medical Education in Europe conference, medical educators, students and clinicians from six continents discussed these challenges in a participatory workshop. Here we reflect on emerging themes from the workshop and how to plan for curricular change. Firstly, we outline recent developments in environmental health and associated medical education. Secondly, we reflect on our process and outcomes during this innovative approach to international collaboration. Thirdly, we present learning objectives which cover core content for environmentally accountable medical curricula, developed through a reflective process of international collaboration integrating current literature and the workshop outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: International collaboration can bring together diverse perspectives and provide critical insights for the inclusion of environmental health into basic education for medical practitioners.
Authors: Mark Cianfagna; Isabelle Bolon; Sara Babo Martins; Elizabeth Mumford; Cristina Romanelli; Sharon L Deem; Christina Pettan-Brewer; Daniela Figueroa; Juan Carlos Carrascal Velásquez; Cheryl Stroud; George Lueddeke; Beat Stoll; Rafael Ruiz de Castañeda Journal: Front Public Health Date: 2021-02-25