Teaching about climate change in medical education: an opportunity
Abstract
Climate change threatens many of the gains in development and health over the last century. However, it could also be a catalyst for a necessary societal transformation to a sustainable and healthy future. Doctors have a crucial role in climate change mitigation and health system adaptation to prepare for emergent health threats and a carbon-constrained future. This paper argues that climate change should be integrated into medical education for three reasons: first, to prepare students for clinical practice in a climate-changing world; secondly, to promote public health and eco-health literacy; and finally, to deepen existing learning and strengthen graduate attributes. This paper builds on existing literature and the authors’ experience to outline potential learning objectives, teaching methods and assessment tasks. In the wake of recent progress at the United Nations climate change conference, COP-21, it is hoped that this paper will assist universities to integrate teaching about climate change into medical education.Downloads
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Published
2016-04-26
Info
Issue
Section
Perspectives and Debates
Supporting Agencies
The Australian Department of Health
Keywords:
Climate change, medical education, health policy, eco-health, public health
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How to Cite
Maxwell, J., & Blashki, G. (2016). Teaching about climate change in medical education: an opportunity. Journal of Public Health Research, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2016.673
Copyright (c) 2016 Janie Maxwell, Grant Blashki

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.