Integrating Planetary Health into Undergraduate Medical Education: Evaluation of an Elective Course

Background

As health systems face mounting climate-related burdens, training climate-competent physicians has become a public health priority. Yet Planetary Health remains largely absent from undergraduate medical curricula in Italy. Within the VeBS project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, we organized an elective university course for medical students. This study aims to assess its impact in terms of knowledge, expectation, and satisfaction.

Methods

A three-session elective course was developed addressing green prescriptions, nature-based interventions, and climate-related mental health, combining didactic lectures with problem-based learning scenarios. The course was addressed to medical students (from first to sixth year). Evaluation included a pre-course mixed-methods questionnaire (n = 58), per-session surveys (n = 55, 51, 54), and a final post-course questionnaire (n = 54), using a 4-point Likert scale.

Results

Participants were predominantly first-year (≈90%) and female (≈63%) students. Preliminary qualitative findings indicate high baseline interest and strong expectations for practical clinical knowledge applications. Per-session satisfaction scores showed a progressive increase across the three sessions (2.91, 2.98, 3.04/4), while perceived relevance for future professional development remained consistent (2.84–2.87/4). Participatory climate and methodological adequacy were highly rated (3.30 and 3.20/4). Support for curricular integration was moderate and consistent across all timepoints (session level: 2.59–2.62/4; post-course: 2.46/4), with a median of 3/4 throughout.

Conclusions

Planetary Health education is well-received and professionally relevant for early-stage medical students. Yet sustained engagement requires more than elective exposure: the persistent gap between satisfaction and curricular support calls for structural integration of Planetary Health into core medical training, as a concrete step toward climate-resilient health systems.

Key messages

• Early exposure to Planetary Health is feasible and well received: medical students show high satisfaction and consistent professional interest across a multi-timepoint elective evaluation.

• Moderate but stable support for curricular integration across all timepoints makes the case for proactive integration of Planetary Health within the medical undergraduate curriculum.