title: Incorporating environmental health into pediatric medical and nursing education.
abstract: Pediatric medical and nursing education currently lacks the environmental health content necessary to appropriately prepare pediatric health care professionals to prevent, recognize, manage, and treat environmental-exposure-related disease. Leading health institutions have recognized the need for improvements in health professionals' environmental health education. Parents are seeking answers about the impact of environmental toxicants on their children. Given the biologic, psychological, and social differences between children and adults, there is a need for environmental health education specific to children. The National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, in partnership with the Children's Environmental Health Network, created two working groups, one with expertise in medical education and one with expertise in nursing education. The working groups reviewed the transition from undergraduate student to professional to assess where in those processes pediatric environmental health could be emphasized. The medical education working group recommended increasing education about children's environmental health in the medical school curricula, in residency training, and in continuing medical education. The group also recommended the expansion of fellowship training in children's environmental health. Similarly, the nursing working group recommended increasing children's environmental health content at the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing nursing education levels. Working groups also identified the key medical and nursing organizations that would be important in leveraging these changes. A concerted effort to prioritize pediatric environmental health by governmental organizations and foundations is essential in providing the resources and expertise to set policy and provide the tools for teaching pediatric environmental health to health care providers.
authors.affiliation: National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, Washington, DC, USA. mccurdy@neetf.org
authors.forename: Leyla Erk
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: McCurdy
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Love
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Etzel
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paulson
authors.forename: Nsedu Obot
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Witherspoon
authors.forename: Allen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dearry
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003479:Curriculum; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000639:trends*; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000639:trends*; D004777:Environment; D004782:Environmental Health; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000506:poisoning; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D006801:Humans; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants