Embedding Planetary Health Education into the Medical Teaching Unit
Project description
This project will embed formal education on planetary health within a medical teaching unit (MTU) and create a package of changes that could be implemented on any MTU in Canada. The aim is to address the current deficit in climate education in internal medicine curricula, and to enhance the understanding—and change the behavior—of current and future practicing physicians in internal medicine.
PI: Nabha Shetty, Associate Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, Dalhousie University
Suggested citation
Cutbill J, Lalande A, Paczka Giorgi L, Devitt K, Janousek S. Food Infrastructure for Planetary Health [Internet]. (2024) CASCADES (Creating a Sustainable Canadian Health System in a Climate Crisis). [Cited DATE]. Available from: https://cascadescanada.ca/resources/food-infrastructures.
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Other topics
Care pathways
Key actions can minimize the environmental harms of medications throughout their lifecycle and address increased medication-related risks due to climate change.
Many opportunities exist to address the resource intensity of perioperative care while ensuring and promoting high quality care.
Comprehensive person-centered primary and community care can support health and wellbeing and reduce the need for more resource intensive services.
Practitioners across specialties can take meaningful steps to reduce the environmental impacts of their practice and safeguard patient and population health.
Health services can promote health, including by delivering healthy food, effective chronic disease management, and climate-adapted clinical care.
System enablers
Sustainability is intrinsically linked with both quality care and patient safety and can be embedded within these efforts.
Leadership and good governance are needed to develop and deliver effective climate and sustainability strategy.
The shift to climate resilient and sustainable health systems requires accurate assessment of healthcare’s environmental impacts.
Health systems can leverage their purchasing power to influence vendors and shape markets for sustainable and resilient health sector products and services.
Healthy food, digital innovation and effective waste management are among the key enablers of low-carbon, sustainable and climate-resilient health systems.