A cross‐professional competency framework for communicating genomic results

Abstract

To ensure genomic medicine is delivered safely and effectively, it is crucial that healthcare professionals are able to understand and communicate genomic results. This Education Innovation describes a nationally agreed, cross‐professional competency framework outlining the knowledge, skills and behaviors required to communicate genomic results. Using principles of the nominal group technique, consensus meetings with clinical, scientific and educational experts identified six stages in the return of results process, drafted and iterated competencies. Competencies were then mapped across three levels to acknowledge different degrees of experiences and scopes of practice. The framework was open for consultation with healthcare professionals and patient communities before being published. The finalized framework includes six core competency statements required to communicate genomic results. This framework is designed to be a guide for best practice and a developmental tool to support individuals and organizations. It can be used by healthcare professionals, such as genetic counselors, to identify individual learning needs or to structure the development of training for other healthcare professionals who are increasingly involved in requesting and returning results for genomic tests.

Written communication of whole genome sequencing results in the NHS Genomic Medicine Service: a multi-centre service evaluation

“…Alongside providing a written record of the outcome of testing, letters aid information recall, provide means to share information with family members, facilitate access to management options, promote feelings of autonomy, signpost reliable information, and improve the accuracy of risk perception [5][6][7]. To support the communication of results in the GMS, a cross-professional competency framework has been developed that outlines the professional knowledge, behaviours, and skills required to convey genomic results [8]. However, there are currently no national guidelines or templates for writing genomic results letters to patients and there are few published studies exploring patient preferences about summary letters in clinical genetics to draw conclusions about effective letter-writing practice [5,7,9].…”