2 Climate change, palliative care & the future: making connections in undergraduate education

<h3>Background</h3> Climate change is the greatest global threat to human health of the 21st Century.¹ The World Health Organisation, predict 250,000 excess deaths globally between 2030–2050 due to climate change.² As such, future Palliative Care needs are likely to increase and change. Currently there is no formal teaching on the health impact of climate change at our teaching Trust for undergraduate medical students. <h3>Aim</h3> To teach final year medical students on the health impacts of climate change, and link this with changing future Palliative Care needs. <h3>Methods</h3> A 30-minute near-peer teaching session was introduced to the final year medical students teaching, discussing how climate change impacts human health directly and indirectly, including changing palliative care needs and how healthcare professionals can apply principles of Sustainable Healthcare to clinical work, to mitigate the healthcare industry’s carbon footprint. Approximately 40 final year medical students completed anonymised questionnaire pre- and post-session. <h3>Results</h3> Prior to the teaching session, 61% of students were confident in their knowledge of how climate change affects human health and lead to excess death, 41.4% in how the healthcare system contributes to climate change and 22% felt confident in applying the principles of Sustainable Healthcare to clinical work. Following the session these confidence ratings increased to 100%, 97.3% and 100% respectively. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Overall, teaching about the health impacts of climate change has highlighted to students the importance of having good palliation skills, as well as recognising the impact healthcare has on the environment and how to practice sustainably as a clinician. <h3>References</h3> A Commission on Climate Change.<i>The Lancet</i> 2009;<b>373</b>(9676):1659. Hales S, Kovats S, Lloyd S, Campbell-Lendrum D. 2014. Quantitative risk assessment of the effects of climate change on selected causes of death 2030s and 2050s. Geneva: World Health Organization, ISBN 978 92 4 150769 1