RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has launched a Spanish-language version of its Sustainable Healthcare course, expanding access to education on sustainable healthcare globally.

Both fully online and newly available in Spanish, this free continuous professional development (CPD) course is available to an even wider community of healthcare professionals than before, practicing across all disciplines worldwide.

Supported by RCSI Online, the course is designed to be flexible and accessible, helping to remove language barriers and broaden participation among healthcare professionals in Spanish-speaking regions. This expansion will enable more practitioners to engage in sustainable healthcare practice, help to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare and improve overall health outcomes.

Professor Debbi Stanistreet, one of the two course leaders and former Head of Public Health and Epidemiology at RCSI’s School of Population Health said: “Healthcare saves lives, but it also contributes to environmental damage and climate change. Anaesthetic gases, single use plastics, improper disposal of toxic waste, and over-prescription of medications all cause cumulative harm which in turn negatively impact human health.

“By offering this course in Spanish and making it accessible to a wider audience we hope to create a critical mass of health professionals acting to make healthcare more sustainable.”

Disease prevention is the primary method of reducing healthcare’s carbon footprint. Health professional-led advocacy to promote structural changes at policy level is a powerful tool to improve population health and support behaviour change. For example, promotion of active transport policies that prioritise cycling and walking, benefit individual health as well as the planet by reducing carbon emissions.

Patient empowerment can also contribute to a reduction in disease progression to stop complications before they occur. Furthermore, the use of clinical products with a lower environmental impact can contribute significantly to more sustainable healthcare.

Throughout the course, participants will learn crucial strategies for implementing sustainable practices in their own fields.

“Health professionals and indeed other professionals within healthcare organisations, need to consider how they can change their practice. By expanding access to this course for Spanish- speaking health professionals, this course reaches a more diverse range of participants, driving positive change to aid in the expansion of environmentally and socially responsible global healthcare systems,” says Dr Samira Jabakhanji, a postdoctoral researcher at RCSI School of Population Health, who is also leading on this course.

The course is part of RCSI’s broader commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with RCSI currently ranked first in the world for SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being. The course provides 16 CPD points to participants who finish the course, and each will receive an RCSI certificate of completion.

You can find more information here.