A recent article on Medscape shines an important light on the challenge – and urgent need – of integrating climate change training into medical education. These nascent efforts are just getting underway across the country, with some programs – notably Harvard's C-CHANGE (Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment) program, mentioned in the article, and others, such as the University of Colorado's Climate Medicine diploma course – leading the way. A number of publications, such as the editorial titled "A planetary health curriculum for medicine" published in 2021 in the BMJ, offer a roadmap to do so.
Dr Misha Rosenbach
Medical schools, residency programs, and other medical specialty programs – including those for advanced practice providers, dentists, nurses, and more – should be incorporating climate change and its myriad of health impacts into their training pathways. The medical student group, Medical Students for a Sustainable Future, has put forth a planetary health report card that evaluates training programs on the strength of their focus on the intersections between climate and health.
While the article did not specifically focus on dermatology, these impacts are true in our field as well. The article notes that "at least one medical journal has recently ramped up its efforts to educate physicians on the links between health issues and climate change." Notably in dermatology, the International Journal of Women's Dermatology devoted an entire 124-page themed
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COMMENTARY
Climate Change, Medical Education, and Dermatology
Misha Rosenbach, MD
May 23, 2022
A recent article on Medscape shines an important light on the challenge – and urgent need – of integrating climate change training into medical education. These nascent efforts are just getting underway across the country, with some programs – notably Harvard's C-CHANGE (Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment) program, mentioned in the article, and others, such as the University of Colorado's Climate Medicine diploma course – leading the way. A number of publications, such as the editorial titled "A planetary health curriculum for medicine" published in 2021 in the BMJ, offer a roadmap to do so.
Dr Misha Rosenbach
Medical schools, residency programs, and other medical specialty programs – including those for advanced practice providers, dentists, nurses, and more – should be incorporating climate change and its myriad of health impacts into their training pathways. The medical student group, Medical Students for a Sustainable Future, has put forth a planetary health report card that evaluates training programs on the strength of their focus on the intersections between climate and health.
While the article did not specifically focus on dermatology, these impacts are true in our field as well. The article notes that "at least one medical journal has recently ramped up its efforts to educate physicians on the links between health issues and climate change." Notably in dermatology, the International Journal of Women's Dermatology devoted an entire 124-page themed
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Cite this: Climate Change, Medical Education, and Dermatology - Medscape - May 23, 2022.