Pockets of Climate Education Initiatives “Fan the Flames” From Micro to Macro Level

Introduction/Background
Climate change (CC) driven environmental exposures impact our patients’ health, amplifying existing health disparities. The intersection of climate and health is a critical area for medical education as physicians are at the forefront of addressing the health consequences of these environmental shifts with their patients. Most clinical faculty have limited expertise in this rapidly evolving knowledge area. While medical education efforts have grown, efforts are most prominent in medical schools with fewer efforts to prepare physicians in residency/fellowship training and/or their faculty in climate and health.

Hypothesis/Aim Statement
Can on the ground – micro level - climate and health related medical education initiatives occurring in UME, GME and CME – spark meso/marco level initiatives across departments, sponsoring institutions, and our health care enterprise?

Methods
Over the last several years, a few clinician educators have been advocating for and implementing climate and health related medical education activities. These activities include: 1) isolated didactics across UME-CME; 2) an ABFM approved PI-CME project on climate and health communication with patients (GME/CME); 3) a new primary care internal medicine track with an emphasis on environmental justice (GME); 4) a sustainability exercise focused on surgical plastics as part of new intern orientation (GME); 5) development and implementation of a climate quiz to assess GME leaders baseline knowledge re: climate and health (GME); 6) a 9-part (to date) webinar series entitled “Get Climate Smart: Actions for Health Professionals” (Joint Accredited); and 7) library resources for educators to add a slide (Climate +1) to their existing sessions (eg, effects of heat COPD).

Results
From a few committed clinician educator faculty, we have now grown to have a cadre of individuals interested in/working on climate health. For example, Aurora Family Medicine residency program began with 3 individuals to > 25 actively involved residents and faculty. Climate and health is one of several finalists to be a strategic priority for one SI beginning in 2025. An enterprise-wide task force on medical education and climate health, reporting up to the VP for Sustainability and the Chief of Crisis Operations and Sustainability was established and is led by GME faculty, with creation of foundational competencies for all physicians (and physician trainees) in our health care system. To date we have >5 peer reviewed scholarly works focused on climate and health.

Conclusions
Warming global temperatures drive increased exposures that adversely affect our patients’ health including heatwaves, extreme weather events, poor air quality, and expanding vector-borne illnesses. Advocate Health’s commitment to sustainability has aligned with the need to support increased efforts in climate and health education. The “heart” and commitment of a few resolute clinician educators planted seeds to grow change in medical education and improve care for our patients. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” [Often attributed to Margaret Mead].