Skip to main content
AAO-HNSF 2024 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back

Panel Presentations

Care Equity, Quality, and Safety

Climate Health and Sustainability: A Primer for Otolaryngologists

Sunday, September 29, 2024
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM EDT
Location: MBCC, 235-237
CME/MOC Credit: 1
Disclosure(s):
Amanda E. Dilger, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Neelima Tummala, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Duncan A. Meiklejohn, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Climate change is a global public health emergency with well-documented effects on disease development, access to health care and health outcomes. Without reductions in current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the World Health Organization estimates that 250,000 deaths per year from 2030 to 2050 will be attributable to climate change. Like other global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of climate change will disproportionately burden vulnerable and historically marginalized populations within the United States (US) and globally. In the US, the healthcare sector is responsible for nearly 10% of GHG emissions annually. Otolaryngologists can lead on climate advocacy through patient and community education, research, and implementation of healthcare system sustainability initiatives. Here, we describe the health effects of climate change and opportunities for physician engagement in environmental advocacy, including a guide for calculating emissions in a healthcare institution and strategies for reducing emissions and waste in the operating room.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe the health effects of climate change with an emphasis on the impact on otolaryngology patients and marginalized patient populations.
  2. Provide a framework for calculating greenhouse gas emissions generated by individual healthcare systems.
  3. Discuss strategies for reducing emissions and waste in the operating room.

    Panelist(s)

  • Amanda E. Dilger, MD

    Instructor, Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
    Mass Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School
    Boston, MA, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Moderator(s)

  • Neelima Tummala, MD

    Assistant Professor of Surgery
    The George Washington Medical Faculty Associates
    Washington, DC, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Panelist(s)

  • Duncan A. Meiklejohn, MD

    Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
    University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
    Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.