Session 8 Topic: Heat Related Illness

Featuring: 

• Michelle DePhillips, DNP, MPH, RN, ACNPC-AG
• Karen Duderstadt, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC
• Gina Friel, DNP, CRNP-PC

Session Learning Objectives:

• Describe the symptoms of heat related illness and differentiate symptoms of heat stroke.
• Identify populations vulnerable to heat-related illness and the specific barriers these populations face.
• Describe the preventive measures to minimize/avoid heat-related illness and heat stroke.
• Differentiate between the treatment of heat-related illness and heat stroke.

Introduction to Course

Climate change is a health issue that affects morbidity, mortality, and society’s abilities to deliver healthcare and support healthy living.  The effects of climate change are already harming human health around the world, and impacts will only intensify in the coming years. Heat waves and rainstorms are becoming more deadly, disease outbreaks last longer and are seen in new regions, wildfire smoke from tinder-dry forests reduces air quality, and food and water security are threatened by extreme weather. Moreover, climate change exacerbates the global epidemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), with disrupted services following extreme weather events and declining food security leading to poor nutrition and associated health risks. Shifting to sustainable practices, such as plant-based diets and alternative transportation, can offer significant co-benefits to both health and the environment.

There is an imperative for quick action on many fronts: to recognize and respond to climate-health threats; prevent climate change at its source by reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions; support “greener” systems throughout the economy, including healthcare; understand the health co-benefits of adaptation and mitigation; and communicate effectively about these issues to safeguard human health.

To meet these challenges, current and future nursing professionals globally must understand the dynamics governing the interactions of climate and health, the level of scientific understanding of those interactions, and potential adaptation, mitigation, and resilience-building solutions, while carrying a respect for the processes and issues not yet fully understood.  Furthermore, the nursing profession needs to be able to apply these principles to individual and population level health needs to devise individual and locally meaningful public health solutions. Education is key in the effort to increase knowledge and skills among nursing professionals, clinicians, public health practitioners, emergency responders, educators, healthcare leaders, and policy makers in order to build capacity and so they may continue to serve as trusted voices within their professions and institutions.

Program Description

Nursing on the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis Course: Education for Action was developed through a partnership between the GCCHE Global Nurses Working Group (GNWG)/Nursing Climate Resources for Health Education (N-CRHE); the Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment (AHNE), and the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment (CANE) will address this critical need.

The Course’s key goals are to:

1. Increase nursing professionals’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and communication skills related to the climate crisis to: 1) improve patient care and public health practice and 2) serve as trusted messengers within their institutions, communities, and fields of practice.
2. Equip interested nursing professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to disseminate education so that health effects of climate change and emergency preparedness can be incorporated more easily into pre- and post-licensure nursing education across the globe.
3. Build and strengthen an agile and informed nursing community around climate and health education, advocacy, and policy for health professionals with strong mentorship and expert support.

Audience

All nursing professionals interested in climate change and health are welcome! 
Nurses, nurse practitioners, nursing students, nursing educators, hospital administrators, health system leaders, health educators, policymakers, environmental nursing professionals, government officials, journalists, advocates, or those otherwise working in an area impacted by climate change.

Course Structure

The foundation of this educational initiative is the GCCHE core competencies for health professionals, a highly vetted set of global educational standards which covers climate change and health analytic skills and knowledge, communication and collaboration, policy, public health, and clinical practice competencies. The sessions, designed around case-based learning, help nurses, nurse practitioners, nursing students, and nurse educators gain the expertise required to provide needed climate and health services.

The course will consist of ten weekly (Tuesday) live-virtual 60-minute sessions targeted towards nursing professionals from all backgrounds. Each session will consist of 30-35 minutes of theory/foundation followed by a case study presentation, and opportunity for a question and answer period. Lectures will be delivered by local and global practicing nursing experts in the field. The live question and answer session will be monitored by the program team who will consolidate the questions to be addressed by the expert lecturers. Resources such as frameworks and suggested readings will be provided to all course participants following each session.

Video recordings will be available following each session for asynchronous view.

 Session Topics:

Contact: Haley Campbell (she/her), hec2141@columbia.edu

Registration

Go to this link to register for all ten sessions:

https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/research/programs/global-consortium-climate-health-education/courses/nursing-frontlines-climate-crisis-education-action