Sustainable Healthcare
Full course description
This UM-wide minor focuses on the intersection between healthcare and sustainability and gives students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams on a real-life project. You will get an introduction to planetary health and the impact of the healthcare sector on environmental change in a four-week foundational course. During these weeks, students can get to know each other and get introduced to the Green Deal and the regional projects offered by the MUMC+. In the following weeks you will be working on these projects in interdisciplinary groups of students and your contribution will be used to implement changes, thereby directly contributing to the targets of the Green Deal and to society. Therefore, you will develop skills and gain valuable real-life experience, preparing you for interprofessional collaboration and the chance to have an impact on working together towards sustainable healthcare! Aims
- students develop an (inter)professional identity, see the value of collaboration with other professions and develop the ability to reflect on their (inter)professional identity as part of their professional identity.
- student are aware of their own roles/responsibilities as future professionals, those of others, and how they can collaborate interprofessionally on complex problems.
- students obtain a better perspective on their future labour market.
- students develop expertise on the topic sustainability in healthcare and contribute directly to society and the targets of the Dutch Green Deal Working together towards sustainable healthcare.
Course objectives
After this minor period, students are able to:
Interprofessional identity:
- Support the idea of requiring an (inter)professional identity in interprofessional collaboration.
- Substantiate the importance of an (inter)professional identity and interprofessional collaboration in current wicked, situated problems, such as sustainable healthcare.
- Reflect on the continuous development of their interprofessional identity.
Interprofessional collaboration:
- Describe their own contribution as a professional, role and responsibilities, and that of other professions, in an interprofessional team engaged in sustainable healthcare.
- Identify a common goal towards which they collaborate, and plan, monitor and evaluate their collaboration (and if necessary adjust).
- Integrate contributions from students with different professional backgrounds.
- Discuss possible conflicts, e.g., due to power differentials, in the team at an early stage and contribute to a solution to the conflict.
Perspective on labour market:
- Combine knowledge from different disciplinary fields to address a wicked, situated problem.
- Explicate their experience, as a professional, with being part of an organisation with different departments and a corporate culture.
- Discuss the broader societal context in which an organisation functions.
- Value how the minor helps them to become aware of their future job market opportunities and foster their transition to the labour market.
Expertise on sustainability in healthcare:
- Appreciate the dependence of human health on the health of the earth’s natural systems (planetary health paradigm) and understand the impact of planetary health on healthcare system's functioning.
- Describe healthcare’s various environmental impacts and sustainability challenges.
- Show awareness and responsibility toward good quality care and to promote health also shapes health care’s responsibility to become more sustainable.
- Demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to the sustainable healthcare transition (e.g. as part of the Dutch Green Deal Working together towards sustainable healthcare).