Recently, a group of oncology nurses led by Kara Merski, MS, RN, AGCNS-BC, OCN, NPD-BC, a clinical nurse specialist at the University of California San Francisco, asked all oncology nurses within their academic medical center to complete a survey about their educational background and needs related to genetics and genomics. The results of the survey, published in Seminars in Oncology Nursing, demonstrated low rates of prior education and high interest in more training.
Of the 202 nurses who responded to the survey (22% response rate), most (69%) reported having no formal education in how genetics shape common diseases, even though the same percentage agreed that genomics and biomarkers significantly changed how cancer is currently treated. Most responded that they were either “slightly familiar” (46%) or “not at all familiar” (16%) with genetics and genomics terminology. Similarly, most were either “slightly familiar” (28%) or “not at all familiar” (32%) with the role of biomarkers in determining a patient’s cancer treatments. Only 20% indicated that they felt “very confident” or “slightly confident” that they could explain biomarker results to patients.
These results illustrate the gap between the rapid increase in the application of precision science to oncology practice and oncology nurses’ education and training to implement that into their daily patient care. Oncology nurses clearly need and want more training in understanding, applying, and communicating knowledge about genetics and genomics so that they can provide state-of-the-art care to patients.
Few training programs currently exist, and schools of nursing do not often have the expertise or ability to provide training in undergraduate or graduate curricula, despite calls to increase nurses’ training in genetics.
The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) has curated a set of learning resources for oncology nurses called the Genomics and Precision Oncology Learning Library, which provides expert-delivered content to teach nurses about genetics and genomics terminology, biomarker testing, and communication tools to use when they talk with patients and families. The ONS also provides articles, podcasts, videos, clinical quick guides, and patient education to support oncology nurses’ knowledge in practice in relation to precision oncology. Oncology nursing teams could integrate these resources into ongoing professional training opportunities, which could be as simple as listening to a podcast (eg, Understanding Genomics in Oncology Nursing) and discussing it during a regular meeting.
Precision oncology is only going to expand in the coming decades. Although nursing schools are slowly ensuring that undergraduates are exposed to the basics of genetics, oncology nurses need specialized content to ensure they can understand diagnosis, treatment, and long-term survivorship care. Leveraging existing resources from professional organizations is the most readily available solution.