Hospital nursing leadership-led interventions increased genomic awareness and educational intent in Magnet settings

Background: The Precision Medicine Initiative will accelerate genomic discoveries that improve health care, necessitating a genomic competent workforce. Purpose: This study assessed leadership team (administrator/educator) year-long interventions to improve registered nurses’ (RNs) capacity to integrate genomics into practice. Methods: We examined genomic competency outcomes in 8,150 RNs. Findings: Awareness and intention to learn more increased compared with controls. Findings suggest achieving genomic competency requires a longer intervention and support strategies such as infrastructure and policies. Leadership played a role in mobilizing staff, resources, and supporting infrastructure to sustain a large-scale competency effort on an institutional basis. Discussion: Results demonstrate genomic workforce competency can be attained with leadership support and sufficient time. Our study provides evidence of the critical role health-care leaders play in facilitating genomic integration into health care to improve patient outcomes. Genomics’ impact on quality, safety, and cost indicate a leader-initiated national competency effort is achievable and warranted.