Climate change meets healthcare

How FAU is making doctors’ offices fit for the future with AdaptNet

Heat is considered the largest health risk posed by climate change for people in Germany. However, at the current time, the healthcare system is only poorly prepared for the challenges it is set to face. This was the starting point for the research project on adapting healthcare provision in light of the repercussions of climate change (AdaptNet). Together with its partners, the Chair of General Practice at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has set itself the goal of systematically equipping family doctors and specialists in Germany with the tools they need to adjust to the consequences of climate change. The result is a climate toolbox that can be implemented straightforwardly in doctors’ offices – from a checklist for severe weather conditions to informative material for patients.

Extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves and torrential rainstorms are on the increase – with immediate and long-term consequences for the population’s health. Those particularly at risk include the elderly, chronically ill and children. Providers of medical care are finding themselves confronted with new challenges: family doctors and specialists are increasingly having to recognize, treat and prevent climate-related illnesses. However, until now they have been lacking systematic knowledge, concrete instructions for action and structural measures.

AdaptNet hopes to change that: the project is a joint initiative between the Chair of General Practice at FAU, the University of Augsburg (Chair of Regional Climate Change and Health), the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH), and the health network QuE Nürnberg together with AOK Bayern. Provided with approximately 1.2 million euros from the Federal Joint Committee, the project is investigating how doctors’ offices can adapt to the new challenges – from a medical and organizational point of view and in collaboration with other stakeholders in healthcare.

The challenges heat poses to healthcare

“Our aim is to develop specific strategies tailored to adapting medical care to climate change that can be integrated as smoothly as possible into everyday procedures at doctors’ offices,” stresses Dr. Susann Hueber, head of the research area at the Chair of General Practice at FAU. Certain medicines, such as insulin, react particularly sensitively to heat, blood pressure tablets may have to be adjusted during the summer months, and the increasing frequency of severe weather occurrences such as heavy rain and flooding require contingency plans to secure the infrastructure in the practices.

First of all, the project team carefully evaluated the data to make a realistic estimate of which changes are to be expected as a result of climate change and which diseases are to become more frequent as a result. Following on from this, the researchers pinpointed the adaptations that would have to be made. “For this purpose, we took the Nuremberg region as a sample urban district and closely investigated the health impact of climate change based on data from the healthcare provider AOK,” Dr. Susan Hueber explains.

Climate adaptation in doctors’ offices

The result is a climate toolbox for family doctors and specialists alike. As well as an online training course covering the basics and practical knowledge regarding climate change and health, the climate toolbox also includes checklists for extreme weather, power cuts and heat, giving doctors’ offices specific guidelines for action aimed at strengthening their resilience towards climate change. The toolkit also includes personalized information for patients that may be of assistance during personal consultations, as well as a compilation of posters and leaflets on heat, UV rays etc, and free videos to be shown in doctors’ waiting rooms.

The toolkit has been developed and tested over the last two years together with family and specialist doctors’ offices from the healthcare network QuE Nürnberg, and is now being evaluated. The feedback so far is promising. “The current evaluation that we are in charge of at FAU shows that the materials we have compiled and developed are easy to use and are helpful in a wide variety of situations,” underlines Dr. Susann Hueber. In conclusion to the AdaptNet project that is due to end in December 2025 after running for three years, the researchers are currently drawing up a transfer guide with brief instructions and descriptions aimed at allowing the toolbox be used to prevent and care for climate-sensitive health risks in other regions such as Hamburg, Munich or Cologne.

Doctors’ offices that are interested in the climate toolbox can contact the project team for further details.

Further information:

Dr. Susann Hueber
Chair of General Practice
Phone: +49 9131 85 31140
susann.hueber@uk-erlangen.de