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The Intersection of Human Health and Environmental Wellness

An emergent notion of planetary health lies at the intersection of human health and environmental wellness. This concept casts a broader net than public and global health, drawing the two into a holistic context and unveiling a nuanced understanding of our intricate relationship with our environment.

Our existence is tethered to the health of our environment. The elements — air, water, food, and shelter — form the basis of human life, granting us protection and nurturing our mental and spiritual well-being. The World Health Organization reports that environmental factors contribute significantly to the global disease burden, and modifiable ecological risks account for 1 in 4 global deaths. We’ve glimpsed the deadly potency of these environmental determinants, with air pollution, freshwater contamination, chemical pollution, and severe weather events causing widespread harm and disease.

Yet, as our ecosystems shudder under the weight of human damage, it is crucial to remember that not all inhabitants of Earth bear equal responsibility. Industrialized nations have accumulated wealth at the expense of the environment, while lower-income countries and vulnerable communities pay a steeper price. The poignant plight of island nations, losing their homes to the rising seas driven by our greenhouse gas emissions, is a stark testament to this injustice.

Our world has reached a juncture where we must confront the irreversible toll of our actions. We’ve breached five out of nine planetary boundaries: climate change, land-system changes, biodiversity loss, novel entities like plastic, and disruptions to global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. We’ve set into motion changes that risk triggering a cascade of nonlinear, abrupt environmental shifts.

Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a blueprint for building a better and more sustainable future for all. These 17 interconnected goals, launched in 2015, were designed to address the most pressing global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, and environmental degradation. They underscore the intricate links between human health and planetary health, recognizing that our well-being is intrinsically tied to the health of our planet.

Several SDGs directly address vital environmental determinants of health, highlighting the need for clean water and sanitation, climate action, and protecting life below water and on land. These goals remind us of our collective responsibility to work towards sustainable development for ourselves and future generations.

Facilitating Learning

Education on planetary health is relevant and necessary at a critical juncture in our relationship with our planet. Whether you’re an aspiring health professional or an educator responsible for shaping the curriculum, understanding the intricate relationship between the environment and human health is pivotal.

To facilitate this learning, the Medical Student Alliance for Global Education, or MeSAGE, has designed a wide range of free and open-access digital learning modules, which we call Bricks. Our bricks are more than just resources for self-directed learning – they also provide an invaluable guide for educators looking to incorporate vital topics into their curricula.

Our newest collection of bricks delves into the complexities of Planetary Health. The introductory brick to this collection provides a comprehensive understanding of how our health is intertwined with the health of our planet. It explores the need for sustainable development and the urgency of reshaping our societies, economies, and health systems to ensure a resilient and healthy world.

What sets MeSAGE apart is our commitment to democratizing education. Not only are our bricks free and open-access, but they can also be adapted using ScholarRx’s free authoring platform, Bricks Create. This platform empowers educators to modify our materials to fit their regional context, making the learning experience more relevant and enriching for their students.

To the educators reading this – our new collection serves as a resource for integrating planetary health into your curriculum. The aim is to foster in-depth understanding, spark thoughtful discussions, and encourage critical thinking.

We invite you to start your journey into Planetary Health by diving into our introductory brick. Join us in this collective learning journey, moving towards a more informed, healthier, and sustainable future. With access to knowledge, we can collectively drive the change we need for our planet’s health. So, use our resources, adapt them to your needs, and build a better future together.

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To ring in March, we have released two updated Brick editions – Hematology and Cardiovascular. We consistently update our Bricks to stay up-to-date and accurate. Still, we also conduct more extensive revisions of the collections to improve your students’ learning experience.

You can access the first editions, toggle seamlessly between both, or move forward with the new versions. Check out the Conversion Guides below for more information.

Switch Easily Between Brick Versions

You can just use Editions 1 and 2 with little effort. Click the down arrow and move the collections with ease!

Why were these Bricks updated?

Students and faculty from across the world reach out with feedback on ScholarRx’s Bricks, and when you do, we listen. We aim for our Bricks to be evergreen, and while we always strive for accuracy, we make revisions when there are ways in which we can improve our approach and content. We are incredibly thankful to all who have helped us achieve our mission of sustainable medical education by enhancing our instructional design.

Is anything else new?

We continued beyond updates, of course. You will also see the following:

• New and improved illustrations
• Fewer mnemonics
• More standardized Bricks with formatting you will find throughout our platform
• Even more high-yield content
• Please learn more by reading our Conversion Guides:
  • Cardiovascular Conversion Guide
  • Hematology Conversion Guide
    • PDF
    • Word

We hope you and your students put these updated Bricks to good use. Together, we’re on the path toward sustainable, engaging medical education.

The post New Rx Cardiovascular and Hematology Brick Editions for 2023 appeared first on ScholarRx.

In the world of medicine, every patient encounter can be seen as a teaching encounter.  Medical students learn early on that they must be able to educate patients and their families about diagnoses, lab tests, and treatments. As they become physicians and/or scientists, the opportunities and desire to teach often increase. But teaching is a skill that must be developed. 

The collection of New Educator bricks was created by an international team of young authors, and designed for anyone with an interest in teaching and medical education. 

Topics in The New Educator collection include:

• Learning Principles
• Teaching Principles
• Instructional Design
• Assessment and Evaluation
• Scholarship in Medical Education
• Teaching and Learning in the Classroom
• Teaching and Learning in the Clinical Environment
• Teaching and Learning in the Virtual Environment
• Interprofessional Education
• Curriculum Development and Design
• The Medical Education Curriculum
• Quality Assurance in Medical Education
• Student Involvement and Advocacy

The aim of MeSAGE is to empower student organizations with the tools and expertise to build medical education content that often falls outside of the traditional curriculum, and make that content freely available to any student, school, or institution in the world.

MeSAGE is the largest student-driven curriculum alliance on the planet, composed of student organizations from different regions of the world. Our members represent over 1 million medical students in over 130 countries, from partners including:

• AMSA: The American Medical Student Association
• AMWA: The American Medical Women’s Association
• APSA: American Physician Scientists’ Association
• AMSA-International: Asian Medical Students’ Association
• EMSA: The European Medical Students’ Association
• IFMSA: International Federation of Medical Students Associations
• Phi Delta Epsilon: The International Medical Fraternity
• SNMA: The Student National Medical Association
• SNO: Student Network Organization
• SOMA: The Student Osteopathic Medical Association

Dr. Tao Le, Founder and CEO of ScholarRx, said, “Through MeSAGE, we are excited to partner with leading student organizations to address educational needs at a global and societal level and help medical students define, build, and learn the key content that may be missing from the standard curriculum.”

Using the revolutionary digital learning platform, Rx Bricks, MeSAGE is building free interactive educational modules that address a wide range of topics, from health equity and human rights to medical education and digital health. Together, we aim to leverage the expertise and passion of medical students to develop engaging and open medical education content.

The first MeSAGE collection was released last year, covering the critical area of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Upcoming MeSAGE collections include:

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 
• Digital Health 
• Social Accountability 
• Climate Change and Health 
• Health Policy and Advocacy 
• Leadership and Management Skills

You can access the bricks for free through our website. Learn more here: www.mesage.org

About ScholarRx: ScholarRx is a mission-driven organization currently serving over 150,000 medical students and physician learners annually. ScholarRx has developed a revolutionary componentized, multi-competency curricular platform that empowers medical schools and medical student organizations to rapidly develop high-quality education experiences, even in resource-constrained environments.

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