The Relevance of Sustainability and the Climate Crisis to the Nursing Profession and Nursing Education: A Literature Review

TL;DR

This paper reviews how nursing education and practice can better address the climate crisis by integrating sustainability and climate change into curricula and professional roles.

Contribution

The paper identifies gaps in nursing education regarding climate change and proposes the need for curriculum integration and leadership roles in sustainability.

Findings

Nursing curricula lack sufficient integration of climate change and sustainability topics.

Nurses are urged to take leadership roles in advocacy, interdisciplinary collaboration, and policy development.

Barriers include limited faculty awareness and overloaded curricula.

Abstract

The climate crisis impacts global health and is exacerbated by the healthcare sector's emissions. Nurses, as the largest professional group, are key to promoting climate‐resilient, low‐carbon health systems. Integrating climate change and sustainable development into nursing education is crucial, yet gaps remain in understanding their representation in curricula and practice. This review examines the role of nursing in addressing climate change and sustainable development, focusing on their integration into education and related recommendations.

A narrative literature review was conducted to synthesize existing recent research on nursing, climate change, and sustainable development. No restrictions were applied to study design; however, studies published before 2017 were excluded.

A search was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar (January 2023, and updated in August 2024). Relevant studies were screened and duplicates removed. Data extraction followed inductive content analysis, with coding and categorization being undertaken collaboratively. MAXQDA PLUS 2022 was used for analysis, and new findings from the follow‐up search were incorporated into existing categories or new ones were developed.

The review analyzed 33 articles on nursing's role in addressing climate change. Findings highlight gaps in knowledge, delayed responses, and the need for nurses to take on leadership roles. Education is crucial, yet curricula integration remains limited. Nurses must engage in advocacy, interdisciplinary collaboration, and policy development. Barriers include a lack of faculty awareness and overloaded curricula. A collective call for action urges nurses to embrace sustainability, strengthen research, and lead in achieving climate resilience.

This review highlights the need to integrate climate change and sustainable development into nursing education and practice. Nurses are vital to public health and to addressing climate change, but education gaps hinder their potential. Future research should focus on improving curricula, exploring Advanced Practice Nursing leadership roles, and addressing healthcare system challenges.

Integrating Sustainable Development and the Climate Crisis into nursing education and practice is crucial to preparing nurses for the health challenges posed by environmental changes, as well as for ensuring effective patient care, disaster response, and policy advocacy. Their integration is a process and should be viewed as being a consequence of the delayed responses, as identified in this review. This process should specifically address the identified gaps, such as the lack of basic knowledge concerning climate change and sustainable development, as well as learning to take on leadership roles in practice. More specifically, taking a leadership role includes both acting as a knowledge multiplier and increasing the health literacy of the general population.