Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology
Asthma
Environmental Health
Public Health
Pulmonology
Tobacco Prevention
Trainee
Ruth Etzel, MD, PhD
Professor
School of Public Health
George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Environmental hazards are among the top health concerns many parents have for their children. Little
time is spend during medical school and residency training on environmental hazards and their
relationship to illness among children, and many pediatricians report that they are not fully prepared or
comfortable taking an environmental history or addressing parents’ concerns about the environment in
clinical practice. In November 2023 the American Academy of Pediatrics conducted a survey that
included a number of questions on pediatricians’ views about addressing environmental hazards. The
findings showed that three-quarters of respondents agreed environmental health counselling should be
a priority for pediatricians. Most reported feeling prepared to counsel patients and families on
secondhand smoke/cigarettes, UV exposure, and lead. Less than half of respondents felt prepared to
counsel on contaminated drinking water, pesticides, or mercury. Very few felt prepared to counsel on
PFAS/forever chemicals. The most common topics for questions from families included: mold, lead,
secondhand smoke/cigarettes, UV exposure, and outdoor air quality. In this session, we will consider
some of the issues identified by pediatricians for which they wanted additional training about actions
they could take in their practices. This session will describe tools available to help pediatricians become
more active in using environmental histories and taking action to address environmental hazards.
Speaker: William H. Burr, PhD (he/him/his) – American Academy of Pediatrics
Speaker: Susan E. Pacheco, MD (she/her/hers) – McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Speaker: Ruth A. Etzel, MD, PhD – George Washington University
