Presented at the Western Institute of Nursing Conference (WIN) 2024, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Prepared by: Angela Crable, BSN, RN; Jenifer Brewer, BSN, RN; Molly Parker, PhDc, RN; Tara Marko, PhDc, RN; Natasha Barrow, PhDc, RN; Amelia Kohut, Student; Sheila Hurst, PhD, RN; Julie Postma, PhD, RN.
Planetary Health Report Card
WSU College of Nursing
Overall Grade = B
Background
- Nurses play a key role in health promotion and illness prevention. In the context of planetary health, this involves educating individuals and communities about the impact of environmental factors on health and adopting practices that promote sustainability and reduce environmental harm.
- Planetary Health:A solutions-oriented, transdisciplinary field, and social movement focused on analyzing and addressing the impacts of human disruptions to Earth’s natural systems on human health and all life on Earth.
- Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC): A metric- based, student-led initiative to improve planetary health integration into health sciences education programs.
- Five categories of the PHRC: with expert-reviewed metrics for each: 1) Curriculum; 2) Interdisciplinary Research; 3) Community Outreach and Advocacy; 4) Student Led Initiatives; and 5) Campus Sustainability.
Purpose
- Provide evaluation of WSU College of Nursing (CON) curriculum and program to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement on integration of planetary health concepts.
- Join a global effort to advance the planetary health movement in pursuit of a healthier and more equitable world.
- Facilitate sharing of planetary health resources across programs and track progress on implementing and optimizing recommendations and resources.
Methods
- Descriptive, exploratory gap analysis
- Recruitment of student team across three nursing programs (BSN, MN, PhD) at Washington State University (WSU).
- Student led/ faculty mentored: 6 student team members, 2 faculty mentors.
- Regular meetings held for planning, project development, outreach, assessment/ evaluation, stakeholder engagement, dissemination & follow up.
- Evaluation focus on BSN Pre-licensure program and Spokane Campus, the largest of 4 WSU nursing campuses.
- For the curriculum evaluation, 21 core courses of the BSN program were assessed using course syllabi, and faculty interviews. The remaining 4 categories were evaluated using online searches, and faculty and student interviews.
- Completed evaluation, answered metric questions for the five categories of the PHRC tool. Points assigned per evaluation metric and guidelines.
- Final review and scoring was completed by student team and faculty mentors using the PHRC template and grading guide.
- Report card findings shared with CON Dean and will be shared out via newsletter upon publication of finalized report, April 22, 2024.
Results
| Category | Summary of Findings | Grade |
| Curriculum | Of 21 core courses reviewed, 5 to 6 courses discuss climate change, upstream thinking, or planetary health concepts. | A- |
| Interdisciplinary Research | CON encourages developing and disseminating faculty- and student led research projects on planetary health, and related concepts, including interdisciplinary projects. | B+ |
| Community Outreach and Advocacy | Faculty and staff participate in multiple activities across WA and beyond. Including presentations on planetary health, climate change and health, power outages, wildfires and heat. | C+ |
| Support for Student-Led Initiatives | With faculty support, student volunteers across nursing programs participated in this PHRC evaluation. Students have participated in activities, but at this time, there is no specific student led initiative aimed at Planetary Health awareness education. | C |
| Campus Sustainability | Strengths include sustainability practices, skills lab supply use and procurement. WSU implements sustainable building practices at the Spokane campus for remodels and new construction. | C |
Discussion
- Curriculum evaluation revealed faculty are including discussion and assignments related to climate change and planetary health in course curriculum. Recommendations include providing resources to all faculty, such as the Planetary Health Framework, and coordinating delivery of material to students across the 4 semesters.
- Students and faculty across the CON programs are conducting, supporting, and disseminating research in the areas of indigenous knowledge, climate change and health, environmental justice, and planetary health. Recommendations include joining as a member organization with the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, and the Planetary Health Alliance, also developing a website link for all CON Planetary Health related activity, past and present.
- WSU has multiple efforts in community engagement and sustainability occurring in different departments, such as the College of Medicine, the School of the Environment, Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach (CEREO), and the Sustainability Task Force. Recommendations include improving communication and collaboration between the varying departments and student groups to strengthen the Planetary Health related efforts at WSU and WSU CON.
Conclusion
- Faculty and students should be informed of evidence-based practice on planetary health concepts and teaching strategies. Students and faculty should be supported to build integration of planetary health concepts into all domains of nursing program delivery.
- Nurses equipped with planetary health knowledge are in an opportune position to mitigate climate change and promote health equity.
- Next step: Solidify Planetary Health student-led initiative with support from WSU, disseminate report card findings, repeat PHRC for 2024-2025 to monitor progress, complete curriculum review for graduate programs.