{"id":165470,"date":"2024-03-20T14:15:26","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T13:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=165470"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:14","slug":"regarding-sustainability-medicine-is-the-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/03\/20\/regarding-sustainability-medicine-is-the-example\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Regarding sustainability, Medicine is the example’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doctors and lecturers Ed van Beeck and Lex Burdorf insist that sustainability should be part of the essence of the Medicine programme. Fortunately, they have found that their colleagues share this vision. \u201cWe can all see the consequences of global warming in the consulting rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dilaxsan, Elise, Pieter, Tim, Annefleur and Femke (from left to right) can happily still laugh about the climate game. Consequently, they agreed throughout.<\/span><\/p>

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\u201cHow is it possible that, despite the incredible impact of the living environment and climate change on people\u2019s health, we only spend 20 hours on this throughout the entire programme?\u201d Students took this question to Ed van Beeck and Lex Burdorf of the Public Health department of Erasmus MC. Burdorf is the head of department, while Van Beeck is responsible for the education branch. They agreed this was a fair question, so they drew up a plan and requested funds to tackle this issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cHotter summers are causing more cardiovascular disease, and poor air quality means more asthma. We can already see the consequences of global warming in the consulting rooms\u201d, Burdorf says. \u201cWherever you go, these consequences are making people ill. As a result, there is a lot of support for more sustainability in the curriculum at Erasmus MC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everything is about sustainability<\/h2>

Sustainability is a broad concept in this context. It covers the consequences of climate change (\u2018which is already causing deaths in some parts of the world\u2019, says Burdorf), waste, food and the living environment. In fact, it covers pretty much everything in the field of Social Health Care, so everything external to the body. \u201cThe most sustainable treatment is no treatment\u201d, Burdorf argues. In short, prevention is better than cure, and this is crucial in a health care system that is coming under ever more pressure.<\/p>\n

While the lecturers discussed the approach on the 24th<\/sup> floor of Erasmus MC, students in teaching space 73 were playing the climate game. The course on sustainability they are currently taking was still an elective last year but is now mandatory for all third-years. As part of this course, the students have to play a card game, which involves linking health consequences to human actions using playing cards. What are the consequences of guaranteeing the supply of food? You need infrastructure, greenhouses and intensive agriculture for this. This form of agriculture uses pesticides to get rid of insects, so what happens if someone ingests these pesticides? The students\u2019 discussion continues.<\/p>\n

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"The consequence is that you get sad", student Pieter jokes about the climate game that is supposed to make students think about climate change.<\/span><\/p>

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Discussion<\/h2>

\u201cAnd all of this results in depression\u201d, student Pieter jokes, referring to the last card in the row: mental health. \u201cWell, kind of\u2026\u201d Van Beeck joins in and explains: \u201cLast year, we noticed that some students were a bit downhearted after playing this game. After all, what can you do in the face of such massive problems? We will spend more time on that this year. The best thing you can do as a doctor is to give people hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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