The Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC) 2024: Inspiring Change in Healthcare Education

What is the Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC)?

In the realm of education for sustainable healthcare, where interconnected challenges demand innovative solutions, the Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC) emerges as a beacon of progress. As an international student organisation, the PHRC is dedicated to advocating for the integration of planetary health education within health professional schools worldwide. Through meticulous assessment and collaborative efforts, the PHRC aims to catalyse positive change in curricula, research, community engagement, student initiative support, and campus sustainability initiatives.

At the heart of the PHRC's mission lies its annual metric-based reports, meticulously crafted by student teams across participating institutions. These reports, divided into five sections, serve as comprehensive evaluations of each institution's approach to planetary health:

  1. Curriculum
  2. Interdisciplinary Research
  3. Community Outreach
  4. Support for Student-Led Initiatives
  5. Campus Sustainability

By evaluating these key areas, the PHRC not only identifies areas of strength but also highlights opportunities for improvement. This process fosters a culture of continuous enhancement, driving institutions towards excellence in planetary health education.

Its impact in numbers

The impact of the PHRC reaches far and wide, with 142 schools across 18 countries and 7 disciplines participating this year. What's more inspiring is the tangible progress observed – 78% of schools that completed a previous report showcased improvement, a testament to the efficacy of the PHRC's methodology.

Some of the student teams have shared with us the PHRC inspired changes they have seen at their institutions: 

“We developed a class on climate justice that was guided by the components of the PHRC, raising our Curriculum score to a B this year!” - Rush Medical College

“We have continued to update our new Planetary Health Curriculum to incorporate student feedback and cover topics in more depth. In the past year, two new lectures have been delivered for the first time. We have also successfully implemented a small-scale composting programme at the Spokane Health Sciences campus.” -Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine

How does CSH facilitate the integration of planetary health education?

The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare is highlighted on the PHRC resource page as an excellent education and resource provider that specialises in the integration of sustainable healthcare into teaching and practice. Our Sustainability in Quality Improvement (SusQI) website is also praised for being "extremely comprehensive" and "an invaluable open access learning resource" where you can find project resources, educator packs, and case studies.

To assist medical schools in enhancing their performance, CSH also provides the following resources:

  • "Teaching Sustainability Quality Improvement," a concise program aiding educators in embedding sustainability principles into quality improvement education backed by Health Education England, Kings College London, and the Health Foundation
  • Sustainability in QI (SusQI) Academy  join our network of SusQI leads and educators, access our training courses, and receive a bespoke package of support to:
    - Integrate sustainability into your curricula
    - Develop teaching resources
    - Develop confidence of staff to teach and use sustainability principles in their work
    - Gain personal and team development to support students to design and measure the sustainability impact of QI
    - Achieve Established Beacon Site Status for your organisation

How to get involved?

If you’d like to get involved in the PHRC please email phreportcard@gmail.com or reach out to them on their social media account @phreportcard.

Their 2024 summary report was published on the 22nd of April 2024 on their website, pherportcard.org.

CSH would like to thank the PHRC team for their contribution to writing this post. Please share this widely so that others can learn about the incredible work that PHRC students are doing all across the world.