| Issue/Objective |
This poster explores opportunities for Canadian healthcare to intervene with Canada's climate change trajectory and create literacy pathways for risk mitigation. The research proposes that enhancing medical climate literacy and preparedness in healthcare professionals through AI educational modelling and risk assessment could facilitate this approach. Canada, among other nations, has seen drastic environmental impacts as a result of global climate change. As these changes proliferate adjacent to global activity, the need for preparedness to mitigate impacts uniquely produced by climate change impacts is only increasing. This will require specialized, targeted care capacities to treat unique cases and mitigate risk for vulnerable populations. Creating climate medicine literacy in communities and healthcare systems alike could ensure preparedness targets are met efficiently and innovatively by harnessing AI capabilities for educational opportunity. |
| Methodology/Approach |
The research employs narrative review methodology to survey relevant literature. Literature focused on AI simulation and artificial reality for education, the intersection of medical curricula and AI, recent climate medicine initiatives and systemic gaps and inequities will be consulted. This will be done categorically to then identify unique intersections between these research fields, to identify a specific interdisciplinary relationship between them. This will inform the proposition of actionable recommendations to medical faculties, policymakers and educational experts to consider expanding curricula to include literacy pathways for climate medicine. |
| Results |
The results center around identifying gaps in existing curricula and policy that should be filled with interdisciplinary research. The results identify a lack of climate medicine literacy opportunities for medical students and healthcare professionals, and highlight this corresponding to medical outcomes as a result of climate change impacts on Canadian communities. The results illuminate important gaps such as the lack of Indigenous involvement in these initiatives, as well as the lack of co-design opportunities for patients and impacted communities to participate in curriculum design. |
| Discussion/Conclusion |
The research proposes actionable ways for experts to take an interdisciplinary approach to harnessing AI capabilities in healthcare contexts for risk mitigation and climate preparedness. It explores literacy pathways that could be shaped by communities, patients and students alike, and also explores ethical dimensions of AI deployment to do so. |
| Presenters and affiliations |
Iman Khwaja University of Edinburgh |
