TY - JOUR
T1 - Building Climate Change into Medical Education
T2 - A Society of General Internal Medicine Position Statement
AU - Ghosh, Arnab K.
AU - Azan, Alexander
AU - Basu, Gaurab
AU - Bernstein, Joanna
AU - Gillespie, Elizabeth
AU - Gordon, Lesley B.
AU - Krishnamurthy, Sudarshan
AU - LeFrancois, Darlene
AU - Marcus, Erin N.
AU - Tejani, Mehul
AU - Townley, Theresa
AU - Rimler, Eva
AU - Whelan, Heather
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Society of General Internal Medicine 2024.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Building expertise in climate and planetary health among healthcare professionals cannot come with greater urgency as the threats from climate change become increasingly apparent. Current and future healthcare professionals—particularly internists—will increasingly need to understand the interconnectedness of natural systems and human health to better serve their patients longitudinally. Despite this, few national medical societies and accreditation bodies espouse frameworks for climate change and planetary health–related education at the undergraduate (UME), graduate (GME), and continuing (CME) medical education level. As a community of medical educators with an enduring interest in climate change and planetary health, the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) recognizes the need to explicitly define structured educational opportunities and core competencies in both UME and GME as well as pathways for faculty development. In this position statement, we build from the related SGIM Climate and Health position statement, and review and synthesize existing position statements made by US-based medical societies and accreditation bodies that focus on climate change and planetary health–related medical education, identify gaps using Bloom’s Hierarchy, and provide recommendations on behalf of SGIM regarding the development of climate and planetary health curricula development. Identified gaps include (1) limited systematic approach to climate and planetary health medical education at all levels; (2) minimal emphasis on learner-driven approaches; (3) limited focus on physician and learner well-being; and (4) limited role for health equity and climate justice. Recommendations include a call to relevant accreditation bodies to explicitly include climate change and planetary health as a competency, extend the structural competency framework to climate change and planetary health to build climate justice, proactively include learners in curricular development and teaching, and ensure resources and support to design and implement climate and planetary health–focused education that includes well-being and resiliency.
AB - Building expertise in climate and planetary health among healthcare professionals cannot come with greater urgency as the threats from climate change become increasingly apparent. Current and future healthcare professionals—particularly internists—will increasingly need to understand the interconnectedness of natural systems and human health to better serve their patients longitudinally. Despite this, few national medical societies and accreditation bodies espouse frameworks for climate change and planetary health–related education at the undergraduate (UME), graduate (GME), and continuing (CME) medical education level. As a community of medical educators with an enduring interest in climate change and planetary health, the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) recognizes the need to explicitly define structured educational opportunities and core competencies in both UME and GME as well as pathways for faculty development. In this position statement, we build from the related SGIM Climate and Health position statement, and review and synthesize existing position statements made by US-based medical societies and accreditation bodies that focus on climate change and planetary health–related medical education, identify gaps using Bloom’s Hierarchy, and provide recommendations on behalf of SGIM regarding the development of climate and planetary health curricula development. Identified gaps include (1) limited systematic approach to climate and planetary health medical education at all levels; (2) minimal emphasis on learner-driven approaches; (3) limited focus on physician and learner well-being; and (4) limited role for health equity and climate justice. Recommendations include a call to relevant accreditation bodies to explicitly include climate change and planetary health as a competency, extend the structural competency framework to climate change and planetary health to build climate justice, proactively include learners in curricular development and teaching, and ensure resources and support to design and implement climate and planetary health–focused education that includes well-being and resiliency.
KW - climate change
KW - competency
KW - medical education
KW - planetary health
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U2 - 10.1007/s11606-024-08690-1
DO - 10.1007/s11606-024-08690-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 38424345
AN - SCOPUS:85186629518
SN - 0884-8734
JO - Journal of general internal medicine
JF - Journal of general internal medicine
ER -