Planetary health: Framework development and implementation strategies for a reflective educational tool

The Anthropocene denotes an era where human dominance over global ecosystems has resulted in severe environmental crises that directly threaten human health. While adopting a planetary health approach is vital for the future of nursing and midwifery, bridging the gap between high-level policy mandates and grassroots educational and clinical practice remains a significant challenge.

This paper introduces the Planetary Assessment Tool for Healthcare, an accessible pedagogical framework designed to help students, educators, and practitioners systematically integrate a planetary health agenda into professional practice.

Developed via a modified integrative review process, the Planetary Assessment Tool for Healthcare is an evidence-informed, dual-mnemonic framework. It integrates a content component (PLANET: Paradigm, Leadership, Action, Narrative, Education, Transdisciplinarity) with an operational component (STAR: Strategy, Target, Action, Reflection). This structural matrix prompts learners to chart their progress continuously rather than engaging in a static one-off assessment. To demonstrate its utility, a worked exemplar illustrates how a nursing student could operationalise the framework during a four-week clinical placement to establish a ward-based sustainability initiative.

As eco-crisis impacts accelerate, healthcare professionals must expand their traditional locus of care to view human and planetary health as inextricably linked. The Planetary Assessment Tool for Healthcare provides an actionable, collaborative blueprint to facilitate this necessary paradigm shift.

Embedding the framework into nursing and midwifery curricula empowers future professionals to move beyond environmental rhetoric. By offering a predefined roadmap, the tool provides the practical mechanics required to design, execute, and evaluate measurable sustainability interventions in both academic and clinical settings.