Integrating sustainability education into nursing using an interdisciplinary approach

<jats:p> A major driver for interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning is the sustainability agenda. Our paper describes a novel interdisciplinary approach to education for sustainability in healthcare intended to raise awareness about issues and provide opportunities for nursing and design students to collectively develop solutions. A scenario was constructed based on our research on sustainable healthcare and waste management and formed one of four skills stations during a nursing clinical skills day. Learning outcomes were specified and students engaged in discussion, fact finding and practical work. Design students observed the skills stations and participated in the sustainability scenario session; they then produced a range of design solutions which were tested by the nursing students. The process was evaluated using a brief survey to determine if the session had made students more aware of sustainability issues and to gain feedback about the teaching methods. Forty one students took part and completed evaluations forms; all thought the scenarios were realistic and saw the relevance to practice. Following the scenario sessions the product design students were encouraged to respond holistically to the sustainability issues they were introduced to; they generated a range of ideas to innovate product and packaging concepts at local level and industry wide that were tested with nursing students. From our intervention, it was found that there are significant benefits in bringing together different professional groups to consider the very real challenges healthcare faces due to climate change and resource depletion. This initiative suggests a scenario-based interprofessional approach to sustainability can be effective in the undergraduate curricula. </jats:p>