Rethinking genetic counseling clinical skills training in the time of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on clinical training programs, including genetic counseling graduate programs. The University of Arizona Genetic Counseling Graduate Program responded to limited clinical training opportunities by designing a virtual Clinical Skills Workshop for incoming genetic counseling students. During the workshop, students were introduced to psychosocial and clinical genetics skills through virtual lectures, role-play, and practice sessions, as well as assignments. Program evaluation of the Clinical Skills Workshop demonstrated better preparation of key clinical skills prior to starting clinical rotations and highlighted areas for improvement in future iterations. Although this workshop was developed in response to clinical restrictions due to COVID-19, this approach to providing incoming students with basic clinical skills has been a valuable addition to the UAGCGP curriculum.

Efficacy of personal pharmacogenomic testing as an educational tool in the pharmacy curriculum: A nonblinded, randomized controlled trial.

Personal genomic educational testing (PGET) has been suggested as a strategy to improve student learning for pharmacogenomics (PGx), but no randomized studies have evaluated PGET's educational benefit. We investigated the effect of PGET on student knowledge, comfort, and attitudes related to PGx in a nonblinded, randomized controlled trial. Consenting participants were randomized to receive PGET or no PGET (NPGET) during 4 subsequent years of a PGx course. All participants completed a pre-survey and post-survey designed to assess (1) PGx knowledge, (2) comfort with PGx patient education and clinical skills, and (3) attitudes toward PGx. Instructors were blinded to PGET assignment. The Wilcoxon Rank Sum test was used to compare pre-survey and post-survey PGx knowledge, comfort, and attitudes. No differences in baseline characteristics were observed between PGET (n = 117) and NPGET (n = 116) participants. Among all participants, significant improvement was observed in PGx knowledge (mean 57% vs. 39% correct responses; p < 0.001) with similar results for student comfort and attitudes. Change in pre/post-PGx knowledge, comfort, and attitudes were not significantly different between PGET and NPGET groups (mean 19.5% vs. 16.7% knowledge improvement, respectively; p = 0.41). Similar results were observed for PGET participants carrying a highly actionable PGx variant versus PGET participants without an actionable variant. Significant improvement in Likert scale responses were observed in PGET versus NPGET for questions that assessed student engagement (p = 0.020) and reinforcement of course concepts (p = 0.006). Although some evidence of improved engagement and participation was observed, the results of this study suggest that PGET does not directly improve student PGx knowledge, comfort, and attitudes.

Addressing concerns of pregnant and lactating women after the 2005 hurricanes: the OTIS response.

Natural disasters are devastating for anyone affected, but pregnant and breastfeeding women often have specific concerns about the effects of certain exposures (such as infections, chemicals, medications, and stress) on their fetus or breastfed child. For this reason, the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) and the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention partnered to provide information for women and healthcare professionals about the effects of exposures on pregnancy and breastfeeding after the hurricanes of 2005. This service expanded on OTIS's existing telephone counseling and fact sheets. Through this project, fact sheets were created to address specific potential concerns regarding exposures after the hurricanes. The OTIS national toll-free telephone number also was modified to accommodate questions regarding hurricane-related exposures, and several strategies were used to publicize this number as a resource for obtaining hurricane-related exposure information related to pregnancy and breastfeeding. This article describes OTIS's response after the 2005 hurricanes, the challenges encountered in implementing the response, and lessons learned that might be useful to improve the response to the unique needs of this special population after any disaster or public health emergency.