Q&A: A framework for clinicians-in-training to prepare for climate change
As massive wildfires, hurricanes, and record-breaking temperatures hit parts of the U.S., a group of doctors is urging medical residency programs to implement standardized curriculum on the health impacts of climate change. They published their proposed framework in a new paper, which includes a breakdown of high-risk populations, including the elderly and low-income families, and a review of the current understanding on how climate impacts health — such as the relationship between air quality and respiratory illness. I spoke with Rebecca Philipsborn, a pediatrician at Emory University School of Medicine and lead author of the paper, to learn more.
What was the impetus for this framework?
Right now, we can graduate doctors from medical school and residency programs without any mention of climate change, and yet climate change has been called the greatest threat of our time.
What does the framework involve?
The way we break it down is: How climate change harms health, how doctors can adapt clinical practice to health conditions and diseases that are worsened by climate change, and how climate change undermines and disrupts health care delivery. One example of this last category is hospital evacuation during extreme weather scenarios or shortages of critical medical supplies during Hurricane Maria in 2017. [The framework] is meant to serve as a template or guide for residency program directors. Talking about air quality from wildfires, for instance, could come during community health rotations, or pulmonary/respiratory rotations or even primary care rotations.
Read the rest of our conversation here.
What was the impetus for this framework?
Right now, we can graduate doctors from medical school and residency programs without any mention of climate change, and yet climate change has been called the greatest threat of our time.
What does the framework involve?
The way we break it down is: How climate change harms health, how doctors can adapt clinical practice to health conditions and diseases that are worsened by climate change, and how climate change undermines and disrupts health care delivery. One example of this last category is hospital evacuation during extreme weather scenarios or shortages of critical medical supplies during Hurricane Maria in 2017. [The framework] is meant to serve as a template or guide for residency program directors. Talking about air quality from wildfires, for instance, could come during community health rotations, or pulmonary/respiratory rotations or even primary care rotations.
Read the rest of our conversation here.
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