advocate for the health of our planet and patients . Having a curriculum that includes information on climate change and planetary health inspires and enables future nurses to think critically about their roles in addressing these developing problems , raises awareness , and creates leadership skills .
Whether working in a hospital , clinic , or community setting , nurses are exposed to the effects of climate change . Nurses need to be prepared and educated about these matters and become champions in creating solutions . We believe that if more nursing programs incorporate these important topics into their courses , we will create more awareness and action to support the education , professional development , and leadership skills of nurses wishing to address climate change in their workplaces and everyday environments . Many wonderful resources , groups , and nursing initiatives dedicated to incorporating climate change and planetary health education into nursing school curricula are emerging . Our hope is that our project exposes nursing schools to these resources so they can become a part of this initiative and feel supported throughout the process .
What to do as a student If you are interested in seeing environmental health incorporated into your school ’ s nursing curricula , you can start a petition for the addition of environmental health to the curricula , obtain as many student signatures as you can get , and forward the petition to the nursing program dean / director .
If you would like to take on a larger project , consider applying for the ANHE Student Nurse Committee or join any of the work groups that meet monthly . If you enjoy speaking to others , sign up for the
Nurses Climate Challenge ( nursesclimatechallenge . org ), a global initiative developed in partnership with the ANHE to mobilize nurses to educate health professionals about the health impacts of climate change .
The
Climate for Health Ambassador program is another option that can provide you with training and resources to educate others ( climateforhealth . org / ambassadors-training /). It provides free , threehour training sessions to equip health professionals with the knowledge , hands-on experience , and resources needed to speak and act confidently on climate change solutions . A quick and easy action is to ask for more topics covering environmental health when you complete course surveys at the end of a term . The more comments and requests that are made to your school , the more likely the school is to implement a program .
Encourage your NSNA chapter to learn more and take action :
• Create an environmental health or climate change subcommittee to brainstorm ideas , educate others , and work on some of these ideas .
• Complete educational posters / projects on environmental health topics such as wildfires and the detrimental effects to health .
• Create a survey of students to gauge interest into environmental health topics to help fill in learning gaps and provide faculty encouragement for covering these topics .
• Hold learning events to teach other students how to take action on environmental topics and learn advocacy skills .
• Write and submit a resolution encouraging the adoption of environmental health and effects of climate change into nursing education programs .
How to access the call to action As a team , we updated a previous call to action to highlight our belief on the importance of starting with nursing students to create the change towards a more environmentally conscious nursing curriculum . If the values that we have presented resonate with you , and you are looking to let your administration know how much environmental health means to you and your future , the time has never been better .
We have already begun the work for you . On the ANHE website under the Nurses Student Committee page , you can click on the
call-to-action link ( 2021 ) that we drafted . There , you will be able to input your name and institution and send it directly to your administration without needing to draft all of the information for yourself . There are also plenty of resources to back up our findings that can add leverage to what you are bringing to the table . You can also share the website with your school ’ s faculty as we have a section for schools and staff to help implement environmental health into their curriculum . Our goal is to make this change as accessible as possible ,
18 NSNA IMPRINT • APRIL / MAY 2022 • www . nsna . org