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.
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 (see Table 1. Organisational documents and statements on environmental sustainability in education for more details). However, it is yet to translate to widespread competence and confidence. Most professionals currently practicing 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.
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 |