Climate-conscious inhaler prescribing for family physicians.

OBJECTIVE: To provide family physicians with prescribing and diagnostic strategies that can reduce carbon emissions associated with inhalers. SOURCES OF INFORMATION: This review is based on the authors' experience developing the climate-conscious inhaler prescribing playbooks and courses for CASCADES (Creating a Sustainable Canadian Health System in a Climate Crisis). The approach was refined through patient and provider feedback since the first playbook was published in 2021. PubMed was also searched for relevant publications on inhaler use, asthma management, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management. Current asthma and COPD guidelines were also reviewed. MAIN MESSAGE: There is growing acknowledgment of the substantial impact that inhalers have on climate emissions generated by the health sector. Recent surveys indicate that most Canadian patients care about climate change and would be willing to opt for less carbon-intensive treatment and care delivery options where available. Beyond inhaler choice, there are many opportunities to address the climate impacts of respiratory care and enhance quality of care. Working with patients to ensure they are using the right medications in the right ways will produce both carbon savings and better health outcomes. The climate crisis can therefore serve as a catalyst for improving treatment of patients with respiratory conditions. Family physicians may reduce carbon emissions associated with inhalers by reducing unnecessary inhaler prescribing; ensuring patients' control of asthma and COPD is optimized; considering whether a more sustainable inhaler may be appropriate; optimizing dosing technique to reduce emissions and waste; and disposing of inhalers appropriately if possible. CONCLUSION: Family physicians may reduce carbon emissions associated with inhalers through the following strategies: confirming diagnosis, controlling disease, considering inhaler type, optimizing dosing technique, and encouraging appropriate disposal.

Transitioning to Telehealth: The Multifaceted Impact of a Midcareer Transition in Practice.

PURPOSE: The medical education continuum is interrupted by several transition periods that can adversely affect performance. Most of what has been learned about such periods focuses upon movement from one stage of training to another and movement from training to practice. Established physicians, however, experience transitions throughout their careers at idiosyncratic times and with little assistance. Better understanding how physicians experience transition, where they struggle and how they adapt, would enable better support to be provided. We investigated the COVID-19-forced transition in clinical practice to virtual care, particularly its effect on physician roles and the ways that established physicians faced challenges they encountered when transitioning to virtual care. METHOD: Ten semistructured interviews were conducted between November 2020 and February 2021 with physicians across different specialties and practice contexts who transitioned their practice to virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interview data were analyzed iteratively using "generic qualitative methodology" with constant comparison to identify themes in relation to observations. RESULTS: The transition to telehealth had implications that extended beyond the patient encounter, appearing to affect all aspects of the physician's practice. To reflect that, CanMEDS was chosen as a useful organizing framework. The effects, captured in the theme "changes to the physician's roles," were nuanced, illustrated a consistent need to adapt to context, and could be framed positively or negatively or both. Additionally identified themes were labeled "physicians' mental health" and "strategies to mitigate challenges." These themes highlighted that, despite the effort involved and novelty of the situation, all participants found remarkably similar ways of grappling with the challenges faced. CONCLUSIONS: While the basic roles of the physician do not appear to have changed through the transition to telehealth, our findings indicated that these roles were redefined in fundamental ways in response to changing societal needs.