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. 2024 Apr 20;11(2):100130.
doi: 10.1016/j.fhj.2024.100130. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Clearing the air: Assessing healthcare professionals' awareness of air pollution's health consequences

L Holtgrewe  1 , D Yoon  1 , C Johnes  1 , S Holgate  2 , L Orlando  3   4 , J Bevan  1 , Y Choudhury  1 , C Soan  1 , T Daniels  2   5
Affiliations

Clearing the air: Assessing healthcare professionals' awareness of air pollution's health consequences

L Holtgrewe et al. Future Healthc J. .

Abstract

Air pollution (AP) significantly jeopardises health, with the Royal College of Physicians accepting the adverse effects of AP are not being sufficiently communicated to patients by healthcare professionals (HCP). To explore HCPs' understanding and attitudes toward AP and its health impacts, we conducted a service evaluation survey in a group of hospital doctors. A questionnaire comprising 20 questions about AP and its health associations was completed by 133 hospital doctors working at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, UK. While 65% (n = 86) of respondents strongly agreed that AP is relevant to health, 79% (n = 105) felt insufficiently trained on AP and its health associations. The survey shows that HCPs' knowledge of AP and its connection to poor health is a major barrier in discussions with patients. Further research is needed to understand whether these views are nationally shared among HCPs and to explore the most effective strategies for enhancing AP awareness.

Keywords: Air pollution; Air quality; Environmental health; Learning health systems; Physicians.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Knowledge of the Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah case among survey respondents.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Air pollution and its health impacts. Percentage of survey respondents who considered air pollution to be a significant contributor to several health conditions (multiple selections possible). All conditions mentioned have a recognised contribution to aetiology, other than Guillain-Barre Syndrome which was included as a ‘red herring’. The four most commonly selected options are highlighted in orange.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Responsible roles regarding air pollution and health of the patients. Percentage of survey respondents who considered several professions responsible for engaging in discussions around the adverse health impacts of air pollution (multiple selections possible).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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