Heat, Climate, and Mental Health: A Clinical Guide for Nurse Practitioners

Abstract

Extreme heat is an immediate, predictable hazard to mental health, psychiatric stability, and medication safety, and it is intensifying with climate change. Population studies link hot weather to increased psychiatric morbidity and suicide, and people with serious mental illness face markedly higher mortality during extreme heat events. Nurse practitioners (NPs) across primary care, psychiatric-mental health, emergency, geriatric, pediatric, and community settings are well positioned to identify and reduce this risk; however, practical, evidence-based guidance for NPs remains limited. Synthesizing peer-reviewed literature, this clinical review offers NPs a concise framework for climate-informed mental health care: recognizing why heat warrants clinical attention, identifying higher-risk populations, reviewing heat-sensitive psychotropic and medical treatments, applying place-based screening, delivering tailored anticipatory guidance, documenting vulnerability, and coordinating community resources. A medication considerations table and an integrated screening and workflow table support implementation. Climate-ready NP practice does not require a separate clinic; it requires adding heat, place, and medication safety to routine clinical reasoning to prevent avoidable harm and address inequities in environmental exposure.