Submission ID 131622
| Issue/Objective | Climate change is recognized as a public health emergency, and healthcare systems contribute approximately 4-5% of Canada's national greenhouse gas emissions. Medical students are uniquely positioned to identify inefficiencies in healthcare systems and lead sustainability initiatives during training; however, funding opportunities for student-led interventions remain limited. |
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| Methodology/Approach | Project Green Healthcare (PGH) is a national program developed through the Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) Health and Environment Adaptive Response Taskforce (HEART) to support student-led sustainability and quality improvement initiatives within Canadian healthcare systems. Supported from the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) through the Impact 2040 initiative, PGH provides a funding pool of $5,000 to support student-led projects to advance sustainable healthcare practices. |
| Results | During the 2025-2026 funding cycle, PGH received 15 applications from teams representing 43 medical learners across eight Canadian institutions. Proposed initiatives target measurable environmental impacts within healthcare settings. For example, one emergency department quality improvement project will audit and redesign procedure kits to reduce unnecessary single-use medical waste. Another initiative will plant 300 food-producing and pollinator-supporting plants within a hospital healing garden to support food access. A diagnostic stewardship project aims to reduce low-value CT head imaging by 10%, translating avoided scans into estimated carbon emission reductions. Additional initiatives include compost infrastructure installation, circular reuse of medical education supplies, and sustainability-focused educational programming. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | PGH represents a national funding platform enabling medical students to translate planetary health principles into health system interventions while fostering climate-conscious leadership among future physicians. |
| Presenters and Affiliations | Aishwarya Rajesh Krishnan Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Ontario Keishini Selvaganesh Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Ontario Susie O'Brien Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador Nicoletta Dini Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia Farin Mir Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta Jay Hwang Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, British Columbia Kaamraan Islam Faculty of Medicine, Queen's University, Ontario Rayan Shafi Faculty of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Jasmeen Dourka Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, Ontario |
