The Environment as a Patient: A Content Analysis of Canadian Nursing Organizations and Regulatory Bodies Policies on Environmental Health
Document Type
Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Individual, community, and societal health is impacted by the environment, specifically by air, water and soil pollution, and climate change. Poor environmental conditions have been associated with many illness exacerbations. Although global nursing organizations have increased their environmental health focus, evidence is lacking that Canadian nurse leaders and organizations are similarly invested. PURPOSE: The purpose of this analysis was to explore the policies of Canadian nursing regulatory bodies and associations on nursing practice specific to environmental health. METHODS: A content analysis of nursing focused position statements and competency documents was conducted to assess Canadian nursing policies in environmental health. Publicly available position statements and competency documents regarding health and the environment were retrieved from Canadian nursing regulatory colleges and nursing associations, the Canadian Nursing Associations, and the International Council of Nurses. All documents were coded inductively and thematically analyzed. RESULTS: In total, 22 documents were retrieved which consisted of 11 policy statements from nursing associations and 11 competency documents from nursing regulators and national associations. Four themes were generated: collaboration, language of engagement, nursing actions, and social justice. CONCLUSION: There is a gap between nursing policies and competencies directing nursing action related to the health of the environment across Canada. There is an opportunity to improve eco-literacy within the nursing profession, undergraduate education and to produce nursing research on environmental health.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Published in The Canadian Journal of Nursing Research / Revue Canadienne De Recherche En Sciences Infirmieres, Volume 54, Issue 4, 2022.
APA Citation
Mundie, C., & Donelle, L. (2021). The Environment as a Patient: A Content Analysis of Canadian Nursing Organizations and Regulatory Bodies Policies on Environmental Health. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 54(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/08445621211035913
Rights
© The Author(s) 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).