Draft Vision and Goals for the Sustainable Healthcare Education network

This is a draft mission statement of the Sustainable Healthcare Education network (SHE), developed by the core SHE team. It incorporates five year goals, and is for review and further discussion and development by network participants.

Please do read on and send your comments by responding in the comment box below. If there is anything that you would like to send only to the core SHE team, please email sarah.walpole at doctors.org.uk. We aim to finalise the vision statement by Monday 16th April, so please begin sending any comments straight away to leave time for discussion.

A word version of the vision statement is attached.

Vision

The vision of the Sustainable Healthcare Education network (SHE) is that all health students can explain the relevance of planetary health to human health and healthcare, and that this knowledge informs the behaviours and activities of health professionals, who promote health by incorporating environmental sustainability in their workplaces and professional roles.

Mission

To support healthcare schools and medical schools to identify how sustainable healthcare education can be incorporated into curricula to improve the professional capacities of their graduates.

To provide guidance, resources and support in collaboration with and to support health professional educators, such that they can develop and deliver sustainable healthcare education (see appendix).

To equip current and future health professionals with understanding of the relevance of planetary health to human health and healthcare.

To support current and future healthcare practitioners to undertake environmentally-sustainable action for health, in their workplaces and their professional duties. 

Scope

SHE is an international network which began in the UK in 2009. It provides guidance and resources for the development of SHE at undergraduate and postgraduate level within the medical profession, and collaborates with similar initiatives within nursing and the allied health professions.

Membership

The membership of the Sustainable Healthcare Education network comprises health educators and students from around the world. Membership is free. Members may join or form a local group to further sustainable healthcare education. The core SHE group will support local groups by providing advice, guidance and teaching materials. To sign up to the network and receive further information, go to: https://networks.sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/user/register

Goals for the five-year period, 2018 – 2023

1. National medical curriculum and guidance: All UK medical educators and students recognise the relevance of sustainability in medical education. This will be achieved by working to support the GMC to incorporate the Priority Sustainable Healthcare Learning Outcomes (Appendix 1) into their guidance and assessments. 

Measurement:

• Inclusion of sustainability objectives within the GMC Quality Assurance Framework (via one or more of the following activities: review, visit, exploratory question or survey); by 2022;
• Reference to sustainability in GMC guidance, including Outcomes for Doctors and at least one other document; by 2022;
• Assessment questions specific to sustainability and health included in local and national question banks; by 2022.

2. Local medical curricula: All UK medical schools include sustainable healthcare education learning objectives within their curriculum and provide at least one core and one optional sustainable healthcare education learning opportunity within their curriculum.

Measurement

• survey of educators demonstrates that every UK medical school has at least one of the priority sustainability learning objectives (see appendix) in their curriculum; survey in 2020, further work focusing on those medical schools that have not yet achieved this, re-survey in 2023.

3. Teaching materials: Learning objectives, example lesson plans, activities and assessment for sustainable healthcare education are showcased on and accessed from the SHE website to inform curriculum development.
4.  

• Analysis of the nature, provenance and content of materials available from the SHE website; 2021 and 2023.

4. Training of non-doctor health professionals: Development of formal connections with sustainable healthcare education programmes in at least one School of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, or establishment of such a programme where none is identified.

Measurement:

• Realisation of a workshop on multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable healthcare education organised in collaboration with at least two health education institutions outside of medicine; by 2023.

5. Membership of SHE: Within the UK: SHE teams in each UK medical school include at least one student and one faculty member from every UK medical school. Internationally: At least one representative from an undergraduate or postgraduate health professional training institution in at least two countries in each continent. The representative is an academic or a student, who is working to develop and implement sustainable healthcare education, including developing the local SHE group.                           Measurement

• SHE central membership list review in 2020 and repeat in 2022.
• Communication with SHE teams by email and/or calls/ videoconferencing or in person to encourage and support their activities; ongoing.
• analysis of database of members and posts on the SHE website and contact with international SHE members through the SHE-international list; 2020 and 2022.

6. Partnerships outside of SHE: Collaboration with health education organisations and institutions to widen and strengthen SHE’s impact and further SHE’s aims.                    Measurement

• Continued collaboration with AMEE, including to incorporate environmental accountability within social accountability; into 2023
• Collaboration with other organisations in UK or elsewhere, such as professional organisations (such as the UK Royal Colleges) and medical advocacy organisations (such as IPPNW), evidenced by involvement at conferences and events and dissemination of SHE through their networks; by 2021 and ongoing.

Appendix

Priority Sustainable Healthcare Learning Outcomes which are referenced in the General Medical Council’s Outcomes for Graduates^[1].

1. Describe how the environment and human health interact at different levels.

2. Demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed to improve the environmental sustainability of health systems.

3. Discuss how the duty of a doctor to protect and promote health is shaped by the dependence of human health on the local and global environment.

Each of these three learning objectives is followed by subsidiary objectives. To access the full set of learning objectives, go to https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/file/118/download?token=PahtFPP_

Abbreviation and definition

SHE – Sustainable Healthcare Education network

Sustainable healthcare education – Teaching and learning which prepares future health professionals to promote sustainable health and deliver sustainable healthcare.