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Education and Climate Literacy for Respiratory Professionals

Health professionals should be involved in environmental health policy making, community resilience development, and adaptive responses. The climate literacy of the health-care professionals is crucial for their effective participation in all of these processes and associated outcomes. It is therefore essential that those who work within healthcare and specifically a respiratory background have the education and the skills to support and educate others.
Lancet Planetary Health committee

Key actions:  

  • Include environmental sustainability in your personal development plan, and staff induction  
  • Complete, and encourage others to complete Building a Net Zero NHS e-learning  
  • Incorporate a sustainability lens into local and regional teaching  
  • When providing education, consider sustainable travel options and hybrid or online delivery  
  • Encourage trainees to do QI projects related to sustainable respiratory care 

Clinicians need to incorporate knowledge, skills and behaviours that support planetary as well as personal and population health. This fact is recognised in many policy documents and papers, such as GMC duties of a doctor, and some respiratory curricula. However, it is yet to translate to widespread competence and confidence.

Most professionals currently practising have had little or no formal training in this area. Lack of education is a key barrier to advocating for climate change action.  This is no longer optional; it is an essential part of high-quality, future-facing clinical care.

 

Useful information

 

Table 1. Organisational documents and statements on environmental sustainability in education.

Professional group/organisation What they have done Where to find it
General Medical Council Education for Sustainable Healthcare is a mandatory requirement of the General Medical Council (GMC) and a curriculum is endorsed by the medical schools council  as it is for allied health professionals. Education for Sustainable Healthcare 
General Pharmaceutical Council The RPS has adopted a sustainability climate charter and published a ‘Green toolkit’ for pharmacies. RPS Sustainability Policies 
Royal Pharmaceutical Society  The RPS has adopted a sustainability climate charter and published a ‘Green toolkit’ for pharmacies:   RPS Sustainability Policies
Pharmacy School Council Additionally, the Pharmacy School's council has endorsed a document for environmental sustainability in initial pharmacy education and training (mapped to GPhC standards) which is also starting to be implemented in undergraduate training  Environmental Sustainability in Pharmacy Education
The Royal College for Paediatric and Child Health RCPCH has developed a specific working group on climate change with a position statement, action plan and resources , and has issued a statement asking for education on climate change to be built into medical education Greener Paediatrics
Royal College of Nursing Sustainability in health and care Sustainability in health and Care
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy A path to greener healthcare A path to greener healthcare
Allied Health Professionals  NHS England, Greener Allied Health Professional hub  NHS England, Greener Allied Health Professional hub 
Royal College of Occupational Therapists  RCOT and sustainability RCOT and sustainability

 

Understanding the carbon emissions associated with your care pathways can help you identify areas where you can take action and reduce the environmental impact of your services.

Education during induction, conferences, self-directed e-learning, study days, local bite-sized teaching, and other CPD all offer an opportunity to apply sustainability.

Topic Sustainability Lens Inspiration
Patient empowerment 

Patient empowerment 

Low-carbon alternatives: inhalers

 High Quality and Low Carbon Asthma Care – Greener Practice  
Asthma/COPD pathophysiology Prevention: air pollution Action for Cleaner Air: Clean Air Knowledge Hub for the Health Sector 
OSA diagnosis/treatment Lean pathways: use of virtual clinics, streamlined testing, and remote monitoring of compliance Fully remote diagnosis and treatment initiation for OSA
ILD - Smoking-related ILD

Prevention: smoking

 

BTS Clinical resources

BTS Respiratory Futures Tobacco Dependency Roadmap
COPD: comorbidities  Prevention: addressing comorbidities, including cardiovascular risk, bone health, and mental health.  ERS - Diagnosis and management of comorbid disease in COPD
Lung cancer: nodule management Lean pathways: use of virtual clinics BTS Respiratory Futures - how to set up a nodule virtual clinic
 Pulmonary embolism Lean pathways: outpatient management BTS Guideline for the Outpatient Management of Pulmonary Embolism


Supporting the next generation

Encourage and facilitate undergraduate student and foundation year doctor projects related to sustainable respiratory care.

Starting in undergraduate means the next generation of Respiratory leaders will be educated and empowered to deliver sustainable respiratory care.

 

KCL medical students were supported to map patient pathways and calculate the carbon footprint of sleep pathways, bronchoscopy and pleural procedures as part of their scholarly project.
Good practice example

 

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