Doctors Should Play a Role in Preventing Climate-change-related Health Matters

A 5-year-old with second-degree burns on their hands and thighs after playing on a playground with a metal structure in direct sunlight. A 7-year-old child presenting with altered mental status and a body temperature of 104 degrees, whose family tried to get to an air-conditioned library but couldn’t because the power cables for the bus had melted. A 17-year-old receiving follow-up, gender-affirming care who is struggling to keep their estrogen patch on because it’s been sweating off in a heat wave. Presenters from Seattle Children’s Hospital at Pediatric Hospital Medicine 2022 offered these examples of how climate-change-driven heat—which has generated record-breaking temperatures in the Northwest and across the U.S. recently—has made everyday life a struggle for children. And they described the need for change in a country where, too often, the effects of climate change are disproportionately harsh for Black people, indigenous people, and people of color. “Climate change is real, and it causes global morbidity and mortality, particularly for children who are much more vulnerable than adults,” said Julia Hadley, MD, a third-year resident at the hospital, who presented with Sruti Pisharody, MD, also a third-year resident. The effects of climate change are wide-ranging, Drs. Hadley and Pisharody pointed out. Rising sea levels lead to changes in water quality that can help spread waterborne illnesses. Extreme weather events influence the ecology of vectors that ca...
Source: The Hospitalist - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: PHM22 Quality Improvement Source Type: research