A commitment towards the preparation of nursing students to address the current environmental threats and health issues is one of the latest milestones that the Department of Nursing at the University of Malta has taken.
Ten nursing schools from across Europe have committed to ensuring that their students are prepared to care for patients in the context of climate change by signing the and the Department of Nursing is one of them. These entities have committed to incorporate climate change and planetary health issues within nursing curricula.
The signatories have committed to educate nursing students about the impacts of climate change on health and about resilient and sustainable approaches to care in the context of climate change. By including content addressing climate and health in their nursing curricula, these schools are equipping their students with the tools to combat .
The health care sector is responsible for significant net emissions, in fact it is responsible . This commitment further ensures that nursing students understand what actions they and the organisations where they practice can take to mitigate emissions and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.
The nursing students will not only will they learn more about the health impacts of climate change (such as illness, death, and injury due to extreme temperatures and weather events, changes in infectious disease vectors, increases in waterborne illnesses, and wide-ranging impacts from air pollution), they will also learn about healthcare鈥檚 contribution to the problem and potential solutions.
