Location
Virtual
Start Date
1-3-2024 11:00 AM
End Date
1-3-2024 11:15 AM
Keywords:
washington; california; phfh; psjmc; providence environmental stewardship
Description
Background: Climate change negatively impacts human health and is largely driven by human activities which generate pollutants. In the United States (U.S.), healthcare operations lead to significant pollutants. The workforce supporting healthcare in the U.S. is massive; thus, healthcare HCP can help significantly reduce harmful healthcare emissions. A nurse-authored framework helps contextualize causes of healthcare pollutants as Waste, Energy/water, Agriculture/food, Chemicals, and Transportation (WE ACT). A large health system adopted and disseminated this framework to healthcare professionals (HCP) in 2020 to help achieve a critical objective of becoming carbon-negative by 2030. To date, HCP awareness of climate health and the WE ACT framework across the health system had not been assessed.
Purpose: To test relationships between healthcare providers’ awareness of environmental health and the WE ACT framework for environmental stewardship.
Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted of data collected from HCP participants of a cross-sectional, electronic survey-based study describing HCP awareness, behaviors, and motivation related to climate change and health. Data were collected from September 1, 2023, through November 1, 2023. Participants rated their level of awareness of the WE ACT framework on a Likert scale ranging from “I have never heard of this framework” (0) to “I teach others about the WE ACT framework” (4). In addition, participants answered 5 statements regarding climate health and rated their level of familiarity with each one on a Likert scale from “Not at all familiar” (0) to “Extremely familiar” (4). Responses to each item were summed for a total score ranging from 0 to 20, with higher scores indicating higher level of familiarity with evidence-based statements about climate health. Descriptive and frequency statistics described the sample and average scores from the CHANT. Spearman’s correlation tested relationships between the CHANT awareness subscale scores and participants’ awareness of the WE ACT framework.
Results: A total of 927 respondents had data available for analysis of these early findings. Of these, n=193 (20.8%) reported some awareness of the WE ACT framework, and the average awareness score on the CHANT subscale was 13.6±5.1. Results from the Spearman’s correlation reveal a positive relationship between increasing score on the awareness subscale and higher degree of awareness of the WE ACT framework (rho=0.132, p<0.001).
Conclusions: In our sample, HCP on average reported familiarity with environmental health issues measured by the CHANT, yet less than a quarter were familiar with the evidence-based, organizationally adopted WE ACT Framework. Future research should be geared toward increasing awareness of the WE ACT framework and teaching HCP how to apply the concepts to reduce healthcare pollutants.
Implications for Practice: Findings from our study suggest an opportunity to promote awareness among healthcare HCP of an evidence-based framework guiding actions to reduce healthcare pollutants. Innovative strategies should be prioritized by healthcare leaders to accomplish increased awareness of the WE ACT Framework and how to apply its evidence-based principles. Examples could include: training WE ACT champions across the organization, creating annual environmental stewardship competencies for all HCP, and integrating environmental stewardship information into new hire orientation.
Recommended Citation
Joubert, Patricia; Shemwell, Angie; Ngyuen, Barb; Timmerman, Rose; and Rangel (PI), Teresa, "Healthcare Staff Awareness of Climate Health and an Environmental Stewardship Framework" (2024). Providence Nursing Research Conference 2023 – Present. 14.
https://digitalcommons.providence.org/prov_rn_conf_annual/2024/podiums/14
Department
Environmental Stewardship
Department
Nursing
Healthcare Staff Awareness of Climate Health and an Environmental Stewardship Framework
Virtual
Background: Climate change negatively impacts human health and is largely driven by human activities which generate pollutants. In the United States (U.S.), healthcare operations lead to significant pollutants. The workforce supporting healthcare in the U.S. is massive; thus, healthcare HCP can help significantly reduce harmful healthcare emissions. A nurse-authored framework helps contextualize causes of healthcare pollutants as Waste, Energy/water, Agriculture/food, Chemicals, and Transportation (WE ACT). A large health system adopted and disseminated this framework to healthcare professionals (HCP) in 2020 to help achieve a critical objective of becoming carbon-negative by 2030. To date, HCP awareness of climate health and the WE ACT framework across the health system had not been assessed.
Purpose: To test relationships between healthcare providers’ awareness of environmental health and the WE ACT framework for environmental stewardship.
Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted of data collected from HCP participants of a cross-sectional, electronic survey-based study describing HCP awareness, behaviors, and motivation related to climate change and health. Data were collected from September 1, 2023, through November 1, 2023. Participants rated their level of awareness of the WE ACT framework on a Likert scale ranging from “I have never heard of this framework” (0) to “I teach others about the WE ACT framework” (4). In addition, participants answered 5 statements regarding climate health and rated their level of familiarity with each one on a Likert scale from “Not at all familiar” (0) to “Extremely familiar” (4). Responses to each item were summed for a total score ranging from 0 to 20, with higher scores indicating higher level of familiarity with evidence-based statements about climate health. Descriptive and frequency statistics described the sample and average scores from the CHANT. Spearman’s correlation tested relationships between the CHANT awareness subscale scores and participants’ awareness of the WE ACT framework.
Results: A total of 927 respondents had data available for analysis of these early findings. Of these, n=193 (20.8%) reported some awareness of the WE ACT framework, and the average awareness score on the CHANT subscale was 13.6±5.1. Results from the Spearman’s correlation reveal a positive relationship between increasing score on the awareness subscale and higher degree of awareness of the WE ACT framework (rho=0.132, p<0.001).
Conclusions: In our sample, HCP on average reported familiarity with environmental health issues measured by the CHANT, yet less than a quarter were familiar with the evidence-based, organizationally adopted WE ACT Framework. Future research should be geared toward increasing awareness of the WE ACT framework and teaching HCP how to apply the concepts to reduce healthcare pollutants.
Implications for Practice: Findings from our study suggest an opportunity to promote awareness among healthcare HCP of an evidence-based framework guiding actions to reduce healthcare pollutants. Innovative strategies should be prioritized by healthcare leaders to accomplish increased awareness of the WE ACT Framework and how to apply its evidence-based principles. Examples could include: training WE ACT champions across the organization, creating annual environmental stewardship competencies for all HCP, and integrating environmental stewardship information into new hire orientation.
