Incorporating the Sustainable development goals into the undergraduate medical curriculum

Methods: Semi structured interviews were carried out with key stakeholders at RCSI to investigate their perspectives on approaches to incorporating SDGs into the medical curriculum. A sample of 11-15 participants with diverse backgrounds across a broad range of specialities were selected, using purposive sampling. Transcripts were coded and thematically analysed by adapting Brawn and Clarke thematic analysis. Results: Five main themes emerged from the analysis on stakeholder perspectives: 1. Faculty Awareness, 2. Challenges of curriculum change, 3. Recognition of sustainability as a fundamental health issue, 4. Opportunities and challenges of a multicultural University and 5. Leadership needs. Both barriers and facilitators to integrating SDGs into the curriculum were explored such as an overloaded curriculum and competing agendas. Recommendations from the study were to incorporate SDG content into the RCSI medical graduate profile, into case based learning (CBL) using a standardised socio-ecological framework, provide staff with educational resources and include SDGs in future research, publications and outputs. These results will help shape the medical curriculum to incorporate sustainability concepts which is fundamental for the future of healthcare and medical education.