Transformative education for medical postgraduates: centring planetary health

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to report, reflect upon and learn from a postgraduate course in Planetary Health. The 195 hours postgraduate course occurred in 2022 and involved 44 students at the Department of Pathology at University of São Paulo in Brazil.  The course activities for students were carried out remotely and included self-reflexive, dialogical and creative learning methods. The evaluation was composed of four aspects: participation; poetic memory of encounters; 'plant' or planning a planetary health action; and 'penning'. This study used a qualitative method of thematic analysis to verify three main learning activities: poetic memories, “‘Plant’ a planetary health action” and ‘Penning’. From the 44 students enrolled, 26 fulfilled the optional formulary given consent to participate in this study.  ‘Planting’ a planetary action was organized in different levels: community, work and research, interpersonal, personal. In the ‘penning’ analysis, students repeatedly referred to art and future as core to learn about planetary health. This could be induced by the way that the course was structured, but rises to a point of the arts’ potential to create awareness and a transformative topic for medical education touching other dimensions of learning like emotions and hope.