Abstract
With the demand for genomic investigations increasing, medical specialists will need to, and are beginning to, practice genomic medicine. The need for medical specialists from diverse specialties to be ready to appropriately practice genomic medicine is widely recognised, but existing studies focus on single specialties or clinical settings. We explored continuing education needs in genomic medicine of a wide range of medical specialists (excluding genetic specialists) from across Australia. Interviews were conducted with 86 medical specialists in Australia from diverse medical specialties. Inductive content analysis categorized participants by career stage and genomics experience. Themes related to education needs were identified through constant comparison and discussion between authors of emerging concepts. Our findings show that participants believe that experiential learning in genomic medicine is necessary to develop the confidence and skills needed for clinical care. The main themes reported are: tailoring of education to the specialty and the individual; peer interactions contextualizes knowledge; experience will aid in developing confidence and skills. In fact, avenues of gaining experience may result in increased engagement with continuing education in genomic medicine as specialists are exposed to relevant applications in their clinical practice. Participants affirmed the need for continuing education in genomic medicine but identified that it would need to be tailored to the specialty and the individual: one size does not fit all, so a multifaceted approached is needed. Participants infrequently attended formal continuing education in genomic medicine. More commonly, they reported experiential learning by observation, case-review or interacting with a “genomics champion” in their specialty, which contextualized their knowledge. Medical specialists anticipate that genomic medicine will become part of their practice which could lessen demand on the specialist genetic workforce. They expect to look to experts within their own medical specialty who have gained genomics expertise for specific and contextualized support as they develop the skills and confidence to practice genomic medicine. These findings highlight the need to include opportunities for experiential learning in continuing education. Concepts identified in these interviews can be tested with a larger sample of medical specialists to ascertain representativeness.
Highlights
The emerging practice of genomic medicine, the use of genomic information to guide diagnostic and treatment decisions, promises to transform the way medicine is practiced (Collins and McKusick, 2001; Williams, 2019)
The concepts covered in the sections below are interlinked due to the nature of how the participants spoke about their interactions with genomic medicine and their needs for continuing education
Our findings show that motivations to engage with continuing education about genomic medicine appear to be driven by a combination of: individual characteristics; perceptions of relevance to practice; and prior experience, such as that gained in research settings
Summary
The emerging practice of genomic medicine, the use of genomic information to guide diagnostic and treatment decisions, promises to transform the way medicine is practiced (Collins and McKusick, 2001; Williams, 2019). Medical specialists who are not already engaged in providing genetic services will need to “develop and expand” their expertise in inherited diseases and the use of new genomic technologies in their clinical practice (Burton, 2011; Burton et al, 2017; Gaff et al, 2017). The challenges for medical specialists to integrate genomic medicine into their clinical practice have only been investigated in a piecemeal approach so far, with most studies involving hospital-based specialists from the same specialty. In studies involving oncologists, clinicians reported feeling underprepared to comprehend and communicate genomic test results despite practicing in areas in which the clinical utility of genomic investigations for some conditions or some patients was established and testing was available (Chow-White et al, 2017; Johnson et al, 2017; Weipert et al, 2018). While expressing familiarity with discussing genetic information, cardiologists in the MedSeq study felt underprepared to navigate complex genomic test results, those that lay outside their specialty (Christensen et al, 2016)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
