Planetary health as a main topic for the qualification in digital teaching – a project report

AIM: To do justice to the need for planetary health in medical education, these are the aims of the online elective course “Planetary Health in Medical Education” (ME elective): 1. Enable students to plan and realize their own course sessions on planetary health; 2. Encourage communication among university medical faculties regarding planetary health in medical education; 3. Reinforce competency in digital teaching and amplify the expert role as multiplicator among students pursuing a Master's degree in Medicinal Education (MME). METHOD: The development of the ME elective followed Kern's six-step approach to curriculum development by means of cooperation between the German Medical Students' Association (Bundesvertretung der Medizinstudierenden in Deutschland, abbreviated as bvmd), and the MME study program. Based on general and specific needs analyses, core learning objectives regarding planetary health, medical education and digital education were identified in the National Catalogue of Learning Objectives in Undergraduate Medical Education (NKLM) and the MME study program and relevant teaching methods were selected. RESULTS: The ME elective, consisting of two contact hours per week per semester, was established at 13 medical schools as a four-phase course: 1. Introduction to medical education using examples from planetary health; 2. Lesson planning on a topic in planetary health under the supervision of MME students; 3. Course sessions held by the undergraduate students; and 4. Networking with the MME study program through participation in digital courses on planetary health and the pilot OSCE on planetary health. A total of 24 students attended the pilot in the 2022 summer semester. CONCLUSION: The topic of planetary health combines interests that span many subjects and semester levels. As a collaborative, interdisciplinary and interprofessional subject, it lends itself to training students in a trans-institutional elective course to become multiplicators.