Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) has launched an innovative resource to help healthcare professionals deliver planetary health education and climate action from within their own institutions.

DEA’s Climate Grand Rounds Guide provides a practical, step-by-step framework for running educational and impactful climate health grand rounds. The guide explores the health impacts of climate change and environmentally sustainable healthcare practices, tailored to the unique sustainability context of individual hospitals and health services.
Grand rounds, a longstanding tradition in medical education, are talks that bring together health professional staff across different backgrounds and specialties to learn and share knowledge on contemporary topics.

Key points of the guide include how to:

• Scope the local environmental sustainability context, including an organisation’s strategic plan and local sustainability data, local sustainability officer(s) or net zero leads
• Identify a call to action, which may be broad (i.e. raise awareness about health impacts of climate change and sustainability) or targeted
• Consider topics in context of local priorities and speakers. Potential sustainable healthcare topics may include: nitrous oxide infrastructure leakage and decommissioning, sustainable asthma management, diagnostic and pathology stewardship, reusable versus single use devices and products, waste management, new health facility build plans
• Contact DEA for support (e.g. speakers, slides, local members)

Climate change is the leading global health threat of the 21st century, yet the healthcare sector itself is a significant polluter. The sector contributes 5-7% of Australia’s total carbon emissions.
Healthcare professionals have an ethical responsibility to take steps to reduce the impact of the health sector on the environment. Educating the current and future generations of healthcare professionals is one key strategy.

Dr Carrie Lee, Deputy Convenor of the Sustainable Healthcare Special Interest Group for Doctors for the Environment Australia, says:
“There is a need for increased medical education about planetary health and sustainability. Grand rounds - an important collaborative and multi-disciplinary education platform - are an excellent opportunity to engage health professionals on this issue.”

Dr Sonia Chanchlani, DEA Medical Education Co-Lead, says:
“As extreme weather, air pollution, and other climate-related health threats increasingly impact Australians, the health sector has both a responsibility and an opportunity to lead the transition to a more sustainable future.
“This new guide offers healthcare workers – from students and junior doctors to executives – the tools to turn climate concern into coordinated, localised action.”

Dr Grant Silbert, DEA Medical Education Co-Lead, says:
“This initiative complements a growing body of education and sustainable healthcare resources (see list below) by DEA to support the medical community in addressing climate-related health issues.”

Organisations interested in convening a climate and health grand rounds at their health facility can contact DEA at [email protected]

Resources

https://www.dea.org.au/climate_grand_rounds_guide
https://www.dea.org.au/educational_resources
https://www.dea.org.au/sustainable_conference_guide
https://www.dea.org.au/mapping_climate_change_and_health_into_the_medical_curriculum
https://www.dea.org.au/hospital_sustainability_project_tracker
https://www.dea.org.au/green_college_guidelines

Media contact

DEA Media and Communications Lead, Carmela Ferraro
0410 703 074
[email protected]

ENDS