Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana and Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
Consultant, Independent Practice.
MedEdPORTAL. 2023 Aug 17;19:11337. doi: 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11337. eCollection 2023.
Doctors are trusted voices for communities and can influence lawmakers on climate change. Effective climate policy advocacy requires awareness, knowledge, and skills not typically taught in medical schools. Such curriculum additions could help students describe reasons for physicians to engage in climate policy advocacy and compose advocacy presentations.
To empower engagement in climate policies and develop advocacy skills, we deployed three 90-minute workshops at three institutions for first-, second-, and fourth-year students. The workshops included background on various climate policies of concern to health care professionals, advocacy guidance, scripts and factsheets from physicians' meetings illustrating advocacy opportunities for students and physicians, and active learning exercises. The exercises utilized advocacy templates and actual proposed actions on climate change. Students worked in small groups on advocacy presentations' content and format. Each group shared its work, and facilitators provided feedback.
Out of 102 participants, 29 completed a survey (28% response rate). Using a Likert scale and narratives, students reported significant improvements in readiness to advocate for legislation or policies to mitigate the health effects of climate change, awareness of advocacy opportunities, and capability to prepare advocacy documents.
Workshops on climate policy advocacy can equip medical students with important perspectives on their responsibilities and opportunities, as well as skills to be effective. The physician's voice is critical to promoting policies related to the health impacts of climate change. Targeted workshops with actual examples and exercises on climate advocacy are feasible and important additions to the curriculum.
医生是社区信任的声音，能够影响立法者对气候变化的看法。有效的气候政策倡导需要意识、知识和技能，而这些通常不是在医学院教授的。此类课程的增加可以帮助学生描述医生参与气候政策倡导的原因，并撰写倡导演讲。
为了增强参与气候政策的能力并培养倡导技能，我们在三所机构为一年级、二年级和四年级学生举办了三个 90 分钟的研讨会。这些研讨会包括医疗保健专业人员关注的各种气候政策背景、倡导指导、来自医生会议的演讲稿和情况说明书，这些会议为学生和医生展示了倡导机会，以及积极的学习练习。这些练习利用了倡导模板和关于气候变化的实际拟议行动。学生们以小组形式讨论倡导演讲的内容和形式。每个小组都分享了自己的工作，指导者提供了反馈。
在 102 名参与者中，有 29 人完成了一项调查（28%的回复率）。学生们使用李克特量表和叙述方式报告称，他们在准备倡导立法或政策以减轻气候变化对健康的影响、认识倡导机会以及准备倡导文件方面的能力方面有了显著提高。
关于气候政策倡导的研讨会可以使医学生对自己的责任和机会有重要的认识，以及培养他们的有效倡导技能。医生的声音对于促进与气候变化对健康影响相关的政策至关重要。有针对性的研讨会提供了实际的例子和关于气候倡导的练习，这是课程的重要补充。
