Tag - Continuing Education

Planetary health and environmental justice are increasingly recognized as central to nursing practice and to health equity. However, dominant approaches often overlook the structural and relational dimensions of environmental harm, particularly in Indigenous communities, where land, health, and sovereignty are deeply interconnected. This presentation reimagines research as a space for relationality, justice, and healing by integrating Indigenous feminist frameworks and Two-Eyed Seeing. Drawing on community-engaged research with Indigenous survivors of gender-based violence, the session examines how environmental degradation, extractive industries, and colonial power systems contribute to ecological harm and interpersonal violence. Learners introduced to Indigenous approaches to knowledge generation, including storytelling as a methodology and relational accountability as a guiding ethic. Through applied examples, including land-based healing initiatives and Indigenous-led research partnerships, this session demonstrates how research can serve as a tool for environmental justice, structural transformation, and collective healing. The presentation concludes with practical strategies for nurses to integrate planetary health principles, support Indigenous leadership, and advance environmental justice across research, practice, and health systems.

This session explores the development and implementation of a three-part, interactive, case-based learning activity designed to integrate the Political Determinants of Health (PdoH), Planetary Health (PH), and Climate Justice (CJ) through the lens of the exposome model and local context. Developed at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, this initiative served as a scaffold for future coursework and deeper integration of planetary health and climate justice across the curriculum.

Sustainability efforts are a long game. As we teach students about the many environmental challenges we face, we must pair this with capacity-building that will allow sustained action over the long term. Utilizing sensory cues, story-telling, and shared experience, we can support students to develop not only environmental health knowledge, but also community, resilience, and even joy. Megan Czerwinski will present findings from her research on sustainability competence in nursing education, along with insights from work developing an open-access learning platform for sustainability (learngala.com) and the campus culture recommendations for the University of Michigan Commission for Carbon Neutrality.

PFAS are commonly known as ‘forever chemicals’ due to their extreme persistence in the environment and human body. PFAS cross the placental barrier, accumulate in the growing fetus, are excreted in breast milk, and have been linked with a wide range of health effects including high cholesterol, several cancers, infertility, and low birth weight. This webinar discusses the scope of PFAS exposure in Michigan as well as resources for the clinician, including ANHE’s PFAS Toolkit, as well as advocacy opportunities.

This education and professional practice change webinar is designed to empower nurse practitioners and nurses to integrate environmental health into clinical care by incorporating education, early screening, and prevention strategies that reduce the adverse impacts of environmental exposures on chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this session, participants will explore the significance of environmental exposures in CKD and gain actionable strategies and resources to enhance practice, advance prevention, and improve community health outcomes.

Toxic chemicals in plastics have been linked to cancers, damage to the immune and reproductive systems, impaired intellectual functions, developmental delays, and other serious health conditions. With more than 4,200 of these chemicals being identified as substances of concern, plastic additives and substances in food packaging and the capacity of chemical additives to migrate into food and drinks is a growing concern. This webinar will also discuss opportunities for nursing action at the federal level and, if applicable, the state level.

The ANHE Practice Forum presents the webinar “Medical Waste Incineration, Impact on Human Health, and Opportunities for Nursing Action.” In the United States (US), the number of operating medical waste incinerators has declined greatly, from more than 6,200 in 1988 to 33 in 2013. Remaining medical waste incinerators have been linked to a range of adverse health effects and environmental justice concerns. Featuring speakers Greg Sawtell, Carlos Sanchez, Deanna Benner, and Jeremy Greene, this webinar provides an overview of the health impacts of medical waste incineration and discusses opportunities for nursing action. We hear from members of the Curtis Bay Community Land Trust, a group that is creating communications with hospital systems that transport waste to Curtis Bay medical waste incinerator (the largest medical waste incinerator in the US!) and health professionals who are taking action on medical waste incineration at their hospital.

Join the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE) for an overview of PFAS, human health impacts from PFAS, and actionable steps to reduce PFAS exposure.

Speakers include Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, Stephanie Schweickert, Environmental Health Campaigns Manager of North Carolina Conservation Network and Dr. Katie Huffling, Executive Director of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE).

ANHE shares our recently released PFAS Toolkit which provides guidance on how health care providers can educate patients, perform risk assessments and provide practical clinical guidance. Our speakers also share current opportunities for engagement.

In this seminar, we introduce a new program that addresses climate, health and equity, Green Cars for Kids. This Florida-based nonprofit works to create a world where every child and pregnant person reaches their full health potential unhampered by transportation barriers. Our program coordinates transportation for low-income expectant mothers and children to healthcare visits using electric vehicles. The goals of the program are to improve the health of pregnant women and children by breaking down transportation barriers. By using electric vehicles, we contribute to reducing air pollution and carbon emissions that impact the health of frontline communities most.