Planetary health and nursing: Embedding values into standards, behaviours, and education

Area of Science:

• Planetary health and nursing ethics
• Environmental responsibility in healthcare
• Climate change and public health

Background:

• Planetary health, emphasizing human and environmental health interdependence, is increasingly vital in healthcare.
• Nurses face climate-related health issues but planetary health is underrepresented in professional standards.
• Existing nursing standards, like the NMBA's, do not integrate planetary health principles, creating a regulatory gap.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the alignment between planetary health and core nursing values (advocacy, empathy, equity, reciprocity, hopefulness).
• To highlight the absence of explicit environmental responsibility in international nursing standards.
• To propose integrating planetary health into nursing education and standards for enhanced practice.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Code of Ethics and the Planetary Health Framework.
• Review of international nursing standards for explicit commitment to environmental responsibility.
• Examination of nursing values in the context of planetary health challenges.

Main Results:

• Planetary health principles are largely absent from professional nursing standards and practice.
• A significant gap exists between nursing's ethical obligations and current regulatory frameworks regarding environmental health.
• International nursing standards lack explicit integration of environmental responsibility.

Conclusions:

• Integrating planetary health values into nursing standards and education is critical for preparing nurses to lead in this field.
• Curriculum reform, experiential learning, and accreditation are proposed to embed planetary health into nursing education.
• Aligning nursing standards with planetary health principles will position nurses as key advocates for sustainable healthcare systems.