ArticleBMC medical education2026
Medical students' perspectives on climate change, climate-health education, and professional identity: a qualitative study.
Article in BMC medical education, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundClimate change is a global health emergency that affects both physical and mental health due to causes including heat stress, spread of vector-borne diseases, and nutritional deficiencies. As healthcare systems face growing demands, future healthcare professionals must be prepared to respond, adapt and support mitigation. This research aims to explore medical students' perspectives on climate change, perceived climate-health education gaps in medical curricula, and how climate action manifests in their professional identity as future physicians.
methodsA qualitative study using semi-structured interviews exploring the aforementioned topics of interest was conducted on 20 medical students in Singapore. Participants were recruited across all cohorts of existing students via convenience sampling. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
resultsSeven themes were identified: (1) awareness of climate change as a health determinant; (2) psychological responses towards climate change such as climate-related anxiety; (3) perceptions of climate change as important yet distant; (4) marginalisation and absence within medical education; (5) healthcare's dual role as contributor and responder; (6) tensions in professional identity and responsibility; and (7) calls for experiential, clinically integrated climate competence training. Collectively, these themes reflected strong recognition of climate-health links alongside uncertainty about professional roles and limited curricular integration.
conclusionMedical students view climate change as clinically relevant but underrepresented in training. Embedding applied climate-health education and defining professional responsibilities within the curriculum may better prepare physicians for the evolving health challenges of a warming world.
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