Impact of provider education on prostate cancer genetic counseling referrals.

Abstract

59 Background: Guidelines recommend germline genetic not only for men with advanced and metastatic prostate cancer but also those with NCCN-high risk disease. Many men harboring germline DNA repair defects would not have met criteria for testing under previous guidelines (Nicolosi et al, JAMA Oncol 2019). Knowledge of germline mutations is pertinent due to recent regulatory approval of PARP inhibitors olaparib and rucaparib and guides screening for first-degree relatives who are at increased risk for other cancers (Pritchard et al, NEJM 2016). Knowledge gaps for germline genetic testing have been previously described (Loeb et al, Cancer Treat Res Commun 2020). Through a series of educational sessions, we sought to increase utilization of appropriate genetic services for men with prostate cancer. Methods: Starting March 2021, virtual educational presentations were held for nurse navigators, urologists, and medical oncologists throughout our large community-based healthcare system. Surveys were distributed following each presentation to measure clinicians’ perception of their knowledge regarding prostate cancer genetics referrals on a five-step scale. Prostate cancer patient referral data was measured from September 2020 to August 2021, six months prior to and after the presentations. Results: Self-reported understanding of prostate cancer genetics referral practices following the educational presentations increased by an average of 1.7/5 steps (2.5 to 4.2/5) for physicians and 1.4/5 steps (2.9 to 4.1/5) for nurse navigators. From March to August 2021, there were 107 genetic referrals for prostate cancer (average 17.8 referrals/month) compared to 49 referrals from September 2020 to February 2021 (8.2 referrals/month). Conclusions: Prostate cancer genetics referrals increased 118% following educational presentations to urologists, medical oncologists, and nurse navigators. This correlates with an improvement in self-reported knowledge gaps. Provider education interventions may improve access to genetic services for men with prostate cancer. The increase in referrals likely does not account for all patients meeting criteria for germline testing. Work is ongoing to calculate the number of referrals as a proportion of the eligible population.[Table: see text]