Our patients and our trainees are increasingly aware of these issues, and, as a result, we as currently practicing clinicians and educators must urgently learn about the lived experiences of our patients and how their diseases interplay with their exposures.
Nowadays, I think more about how to mitigate the impact of air pollution, which did not previously factor into my training or the early years of my clinical practice. We know that some patients, particularly those with underlying lung disease and young children, are at greater risk when exposed to more polluted air and may need to take different steps to limit their exposure. We now consider advising these patients with chronic respiratory disease to be aware of air quality advisories and limit their time outdoors on worse air quality days. We anticipate that when the air quality is worse, we will see more complications of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease.
As lifelong learners, we thirst for the latest data to incorporate into our clinical decision-making. Similarly, colleagues and I are now also voraciously reading and starting to have conversations with peers about the convergence of climate change and disease.
The irony of our health care system is that though we care for patients whose diseases are exacerbated by climate change, health care itself has an outsized impact, estimated to account for 5% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. As clinicians, our goal is to improve the health of our patients and communities, but the systems we work in simultaneously impart harm as well. From reliance on fossil fuel combustion for energy generation to large volumes of plastic and food waste, the climate footprint of our medical institutions is massive.