<
https://www.thexylom.com/post/the-fifth-vital-sign-atlanta-doctors-are-talking-climate-change-with-patients>
"From debunking fad diets to dispelling vaccine hesitancy, primary care
providers are no strangers to having tough conversations with their patients.
In Atlanta, climate change is increasingly becoming one such topic. Leveraging
trust built over time, doctors hope to depolarize the issue and break through
misinformation.
“I try to make [talking to patients about climate] a habit, and I actually
teach the residents that I work with to try to do the same,” said Mehul Tejani,
a primary care doctor in Atlanta who also serves on the steering committee of
Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action.
The efforts of Tejani and other clinicians are not unwarranted. Though climate
change might seem like an issue outside the realm of healthcare, there are
several interrelated factors such as the effects of heatwaves and other extreme
weather, allergies and the spread of infectious diseases, and malnutrition due
to changes in food production.
Studies show that many Americans trust their primary care providers more than
any other source for information on global warming. A joint study by Yale
University and George Mason University found that those who are disengaged,
doubtful, or dismissive of climate change tend to highly trust healthcare
providers on the subject. They rank their primary care providers as their first
or second most trusted source for climate change information — even higher than
public officials from agencies like NASA and news organizations.
“I have developed a relationship with these folks over the years, so whatever
they’re seeing in the news that might happen sort of as a new piece of
information for them doesn’t always transcend the many years of trust that I
hopefully have built up with them,” Tejani said."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-living-wildlife-crossing/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
