Is environmental sustainability training fundamental to healthcare leadership? State of the art with health students and health leaders

Marine Sarfati, Alessia Lefébure, Cyrille Harpet, Estelle Baurès and Laurie Marrauld
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Marine Sarfati: University of Medicine Lyon 1 Claude Bernard, France
Alessia Lefébure: L’Institut Agro Rennes Angers, France
Cyrille Harpet: University of RENNES — Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique EHESP, France
Estelle Baurès: Institut Agro, France
Laurie Marrauld: Management Institute of the French School of Public Health, France

Management in Healthcare: A Peer-Reviewed Journal, 2023, vol. 8, issue 1, 57-69

Abstract: This paper addresses the relevance of climate change and environmental learning in health professional training. Recent publications have shown the importance of understanding sustainability and environmental issues in healthcare management. Indeed, after years of underestimation, medical and public health professionals today acknowledge that the environment has a strong effect on human health. Conducted between April and June 2021, a quantitative study among 3,384 French medical and health students shows that the need for training on energy and climate issues is urgent and crucial. The findings are consistent with the international literature. The contrast is sharp between students’ expectations about environmental skills and the reality of the available course offer. Learning about energy, climate and environment is currently not a priority in the curriculum of healthcare professionals, including managers. Sustainability, however, clearly appears as a ‘must’ among the essentials in healthcare leadership. What these findings suggest is that healthcare managers can no longer afford to ignore environmental sustainability as an essential skills domain in their long-term capacity to contribute to the necessary healthcare environmental adaptation, mitigation and resilience.

Keywords: professional training; public health; healthcare; environmental sustainability; climate change; leadership skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aza:mih000:y:2023:v:8:i:1:p:57-69

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