Jim Crawford, CIDDE, Marilyn A. Davies, Nursing, Michele A. Reiss, Nursing

By Marilyn A. Davies, School of Nursing

Over the last two decades, there has been a significant expansion of scientific knowledge focused on the genetic and genomic basis of health and illness. For example heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes all have a genetic/genomic component. Marilyn A. Davies, assistant professor, School of Nursing, addresses the need for teaching tools to help educate nursing students in the project Developing a Video Resource to Enhance the Learning of Essential Nursing Competencies for Genetics and Genomics, which she co-authored with Michele A. Reiss, instructor, School of Nursing. Davies teaches Essential Nursing Competencies and Curricula Guidelines for Genetics and Genomics to students in her undergraduate nursing genetic course. These competencies include eliciting three-generation family health history information, recognizing when one’s own attitudes and values related to genetic and genomic science may affect one’s nursing care, and advocating for the rights of all clients for autonomous, informed genetic-related decision-making.

While teaching these competencies, Davies’ efforts have been complicated by a lack of unique examples. Therefore, this project team is developing a menu-driven, interactive video resource that will teach undergraduate nursing students how professional nurses integrate genetic/genomic core competencies into their nursing practice. This teaching tool will be used to educate approximately 150 nursing students annually. CIDDE’s Video Production staff will work with Davies to capture first-hand experiences from professional nurses in three areas of practice: oncology, pediatrics, and psychiatry. For example, an oncology nurse assists a patient to interpret and understand results of genetic testing for hereditary breast cancer. Seeing and hearing from professional nurses in real-life clinical settings validates the credibility of integrating the essential genetic/genomic core competencies, which can be applied to lifelong, nursing practice experiences.

About the author: Marilyn A. Davies is an assistant professor in the School of Nursing.