Health care practitioners rarely learn about environmental health in their basic professional education. Nurses and physicians regularly encourage patients to drink plenty of water without any notion as to the quality of their patients' drinking water. A new educational effort has been initiated in Maryland to help health care providers (with a focus on nurses)to understand how to assess the quality of their patients' drinking water and their patients special vulnerabilities to chemical and biological contaminants that may be in their water. The effort includes the development of an advisory body composed of health care practitioners and environmentalists. Goals of the effort include enhancing health care practitioner knowledge so as to: better diagnose, treat and refer patients with waterborne symptoms; better understand how to council their patients regarding water consumption; and participate in water quality policies and programs, such as standard setting and source water protection plans. This effort will be described during this session.
Learning Objectives: Participants will learn about outreach and educational efforts to familiarize health care practitioners with safe drinking water issues
Keywords: Drinking Water Quality, Health Education
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.