Abstract:

The health sector is one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis. As a whole, the healthcare sector’s climate footprint is equivalent to 4.4% of global net emissions. As the largest group of health professionals, nurses have an important role to play in influencing practices in health systems around the world. Nurses are also a highly trusted group of professionals who can also influence people’s behaviours and actions, including those that impact on planetary health and the environment, thus leading the transition to a more sustainable healthcare system globally.
For these reasons the beliefs and attitudes of nurses towards sustainability is of great interest and importance. Using the validated SANS2 instrument, this study examined the attitudes of nurses in Ireland to issues relating to Climate Change and Sustainability. This study also captured the views of nurses on their capacity to challenge poor practices that they may have witnessed in practice and has gathered important insights into potential barriers to more sustainable health care practices.

Keywords:

Nurses, sustainability, attitudes, climate change.