The Triple Planetary Health Crisis: Nursing Leadership in Championing the Integration of Planetary Health in Canadian Nursing Education

Abstract

During the past decade, planetary health has emerged as a scientific field of practice and global movement in response to the major disruptions to our world, such as catastrophic floods, droughts, wildfires, heat domes, and extreme heat, affecting the health and well-being of humans and the planet. The concept of planetary health has been increasingly acknowledged by Canadian nurse educators, and globally, about the importance for integration in baccalaureate and graduate nursing curricula. In 2022, the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing updated its National Nursing Education Framework to include planetary health. There is, however, a gap in the Canadian literature of the process for integrating planetary health content in an already-full nursing curriculum.

This paper highlights the pivotal historical timeline of the planetary health movement alongside the emergence educational initiatives, such the Call to Action in 2019 in the Canadian context and the global movement to address the planetary health crisis. The author describes how a nurse educator champions and leads the integration of planetary health content in a Canadian baccalaureate nursing program, while addressing the barriers to and facilitators of curricular change.

It is important that nurse educators receive further professional development in equipping them with an understanding of planetary health and how to integrate and actualize this content in the nursing curricula. Planetary health knowledge is essential in preparing the next generation of nursing students so they can better address and mitigate the catastrophic impact of the planetary health crisis so all can flourish.