Knowledge and Attitudes of Pharmacogenetics Among Canadian Nurses: Implications for Nursing Education

The Canadian Landscape of Genetics and Genomics in Nursing: A Policy Document Analysis

“…Overall, there is limited guidance for GG nursing curricula from the national nursing education accreditor (CASN) in Canada and the word ‘genomics’ is currently not included in the CASN (2015) framework. Considering the lack of policy and guidelines outlining competency and curriculum requirements for nurses, prior research findings of limited GG competency in Canadian nursing students are unsurprising ( Dewell, Seneviratne, et al, 2020 ; Swadas et al, 2022 ). The complete lack of GG content in the CASN (2015) framework at the Masters or Doctoral level is significant given that these cohorts of nurses are traditionally tasked with generating nursing knowledge through research and that these graduates often assume educator roles.…”

“…At the Canadian forum, a series of recommendations were made (e.g., development of GG nursing educational and practice competencies and the integration of GG into both entry-to practice and continuing nursing education) ( Bottorff et al, 2004 ). Since that time, only four studies were retrieved where Canadian nurses’ competency with GG was measured ( Bottorff et al, 2005 ; Dewell, Seneviratne, et al, 2020 ; Hébert et al, 2022 ; Swadas et al, 2022 ). Participants in the four studies recognized the importance of GG, however, few indicated they could comfortably apply GG in their practice and the majority demonstrated a lack of foundational GG knowledge.…”