Perspectives on climate change in medical school curricula—A survey of U.S. medical students

Karly Hampshire, Allan Ndovu, Hriday Bhambhvani, Nicholas Iverson
2021 The Journal of Climate Change and Health  
Although climate change has been identified as one of the greatest threats to health, medical school curricula have very little coverage of its health consequences. While students are key stakeholders in medical school curricula, their perspectives on the inclusion of this content are largely unknown. This study sought to evaluate medical student perceptions on the intersection of climate change and health in medical education. Materials and Methods: Authors surveyed students at select U.S.
more » ... cal schools from April-July 2020 using Likert-scale items, multiple choice questions, and free text responses. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, and a regression analysis was performed to assess student characteristics predictive of stronger beliefs in climate health education. Results: Of 600 student respondents at 12 medical schools, 83.9% (n=503) believed that climate change and its health effects should be included in the core medical school curriculum, but just Discussion: The majority of medical students believe that climate change should be a core topic in medical school curricula and current coverage is inadequate. By demonstrating student demand to fill this educational gap, this study functions as a needs assessment in the development of climate health curricula moving forward.
doi:10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100033 fatcat:l762wbgefndvtcwnt4tr7pmcsi