gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: In 2009, “The Lancet” identified climate change as the greatest threat to global health in the 21^st century. Understanding the health impact of climate change and extreme weather events is crucial for all health professionals. Vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, young children and the elderly are particularly affected by climate change. For example, pregnant women are at higher risk of mortality from extreme heat because of their limited ability for adaptation. Pregnancy and childbirth can be used to raise awareness of healthy and sustainable lifestyle changes, and those affected are more likely to be accepting.

Health professionals are required to develop skills to identify and integrate the health impacts of climate change into their work with clients.

At the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), the topic of “Impacts of climate change” on health is rarely included in the curriculum of the bachelor’s degree programme in Health. The relevance of the topic has been outlined for the education and training of health professionals and appeals for existing teaching and learning formats to be supplemented by the topics of climate and sustainability.

For this reason, an elective module is offered for students of all degree programme (Occupational Therapy, Health Promotion & Prevention, Midwifery, Nursing and Physiotherapy). The issue is particularly important for midwives because they provide care to people in a sensitive phase of their lives in which climate change has a major impact.

Course aim: Participants will gain an insight into the structure and implementation of the interprofessional elective module “Climate (Change) & Health” offered in the ZHAW midwifery programme. The aim of the workshop is to stimulate interdisciplinary exchange. It will focus on the following questions: What ideas are there for the development of skills in the role of a change agent? What are the challenges in the didactic and methodological preparation of the topic of “climate change” in the teaching? What possibilities and experiences already exist for interdisciplinary training in the context of climate change and sustainability?

Workshop structure: After a short input, participants will be invited to discuss different questions. The exchange of experiences should serve as a basis for ideas for own implementation of the topic “climate (change) & health” or a larger field in professional education.

Ethics and conflicts of interest: A vote on ethics was not necessary. The research was financed by own resources. There are no conflicts of interest.