Planetary health: a pragmatic theoretical framework to guide nursing education, research, and practice

Abstract

Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) appliesThe term Planetary Health has been used in mainstream narrative in the past decades, but the term has only recently gained traction in nursing literature. Nurses are highly trusted and well-positioned to play an integral role in planetary health, by addressing the various challenges and health effects associated with planetary health decline. Issue: While the traditional scope of nursing practice includes health promotion, and illness, injury, and disease prevention, planetary health incorporates broader issues such as climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, resource scarcity, and marine degradation. Nurses may lack knowledge and confidence regarding planetary health issues, which may correlate to inadequate confidence and feelings of unpreparedness in practice. Therefore, planetary health presents as a pragmatic theoretical framework for nursing education, practice, and research. Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to advocate for the applicability of planetary health for nursing practice, education, and research, incorporating an example of a research study that examined nurses’ percep- tions toward climate sensitive vector-borne diseases. Planetary health challenges are threatening human health globally, and nurses must be prepared to preserve human and planetary health