6 feet apart but working together

As the genetic counseling workforce experiences an increase in genetic counselors (GCs) in non‐direct patient care roles, it is essential that genetic counseling students are trained in these settings. The Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling (ACGC) standards regarding laboratory exposure have evolved over time, but laboratory fieldwork experience continues to remain a suggestion for a diversified setting. As more trainees seek laboratory exposure and an increasing number of new graduates opt for laboratory positions, learning firsthand from GCs employed in this setting is a valuable experience that should be available to all trainees. Historically, laboratory educational offerings consisted of onsite rotations for students from local training programs focused on understanding diagnostic testing methodologies and shadowing GCs. Through the years, multiple laboratories have expanded their curriculums to expose students to variant interpretation and report writing, research, client services, marketing, and product development. Alongside the growth of laboratory rotation curriculum grew opportunities for remote rotations. Prior to the COVID‐19 pandemic, GeneDx offered remote education options including both individualized rotations and a webinar series. These offerings expanded due to the pandemic coupled with increased demand and have positive implications for future trainees. The evolution of the rotation also included conscious efforts to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into the curriculum, as well as to improved accessibility to laboratory rotations. Notably, there are inconsistencies in laboratory rotation curricula and requirements, and a standardized evaluation and definition of competencies are lacking. ACGC guidelines defining common core concepts required from laboratory rotations would help ensure students receive an equitable minimum skill set, regardless of training site. Stakeholders in GC education should collaborate to enhance the experiences of future trainees and provide the skills needed by a workforce shifting to remote work and increasing numbers of non‐direct patient‐facing laboratory roles. Drawing upon our years of experience, GeneDx aims to actively contribute to discussions around these questions. Alongside other laboratories and training programs, we hope to foster further innovation surrounding the training needs of our future GC colleagues. This educational innovation illustrates an approach to helping genetic counseling students achieve competencies related to lab‐based roles.

Section: Shift To Remote Setting For Educational Offeringsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shifts in the genetic counseling workforce highlight a need for laboratory fieldwork experience for genetic counseling trainees

Hart,

Ahmed,

Byrne

et al. 2023

“…At the start of the COVID‐19 pandemic, genetics‐focused training programs experienced limitations on fieldwork opportunities and needed to adapt to this new training environment with new and established strategies (Berninger et al., 2021 ; Regier et al., 2020 ). Two genetic counseling training programs partnered to develop in‐depth standardized patient encounters teaching core clinical and psychosocial skills through the spring and summer terms of 2020 (Redlinger‐Grosse et al., 2021 ). Another training program worked with a genetic testing laboratory to develop a virtual laboratory genetic counseling laboratory course in lieu of an in‐person laboratory rotation (Redlinger‐Grosse et al., 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two genetic counseling training programs partnered to develop in‐depth standardized patient encounters teaching core clinical and psychosocial skills through the spring and summer terms of 2020 (Redlinger‐Grosse et al., 2021 ). Another training program worked with a genetic testing laboratory to develop a virtual laboratory genetic counseling laboratory course in lieu of an in‐person laboratory rotation (Redlinger‐Grosse et al., 2021 ). Other genetics training programs developed bootcamps for clinical skills development (Bellacross et al., 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Feedback from our clinical supervisors suggested that our students would benefit from additional training prior to starting in clinic, such as more familiarity with contracting, family histories, and health literacy. Based on this feedback and examples from other genetic counseling graduate programs (Bellacross et al., 2020 ; Redlinger‐Grosse et al., 2021 ), we designed and implemented a clinical skills workshop (CSW) for our first‐year students. The CSW was held over the initial five weeks of the fall 2020 semester for our five first‐year students.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

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

Stallman

Kieran

Quinn

et al. 2021

The Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has disrupted systems worldwide, including those systems that support health care, medical education, and training. On March 17, 2020, the Association of American Medical Colleges published guidelines recommending that in-person clinical rotations be put on pause for medical students (Prescott, 2020). Many health systems around the United States limited or suspended in-person clinical activity for students throughout the health professions. Programs that train healthcare providers, including genetic counseling graduate programs, were forced to quickly adapt and find methods to support students' learning despite the barriers from COVID-19 (Rose, 2020; Sharma & Bhaskar, 2020). The University of Arizona Genetic Counseling Graduate Program (UAGCGP) was not exempt from the disruptions and challenges presented not only by the pandemic, but the local, state, and national response to this unprecedented health crisis. At the University of Arizona (UArizona), all in-person classes and clinical rotations for students in the healthcare professions transitioned to virtual learning in March 2020. While not seamless, online education is not new (Choules, 2007) and faculty adapted didactic courses to virtual spaces. The more concerning challenge to the UAGCGP was finding and facilitating appropriate opportunities for the acquisition and application of clinical skills. Limited clinical training sites impact enrollment throughout healthcare education programs in the United States (Recruiting and Maintaining U.S. Clinical Training Sites, 2013), including genetic counseling training programs (Hoskovec et al., 2018; Pan et al., 2016). The Genetic Counselor Workforce Working Group Curriculum Subcommittee recently reviewed strategies that clinical training programs use to expand fieldwork experiences for their students, such as extra-disciplinary placements, increased student to supervisor ratios, and patient simulations (Berninger et al., 2021). At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, genetics-focused training programs experienced limitations on fieldwork opportunities and needed to adapt to this new training environment with new and established strategies (Berninger et al., 2021; Regier et al., 2020). Two genetic

6 feet apart but working together

Redlinger‐Grosse

Anderson

Birkeland

et al. 2021

Self Cite

Prior to COVID‐19, the field of genetic counseling was responding to a workforce shortage in patient‐facing roles through efforts to increase the training capacity within existing programs, as well as development of new programs. These efforts were hindered by the number and capacity of fieldwork training sites. COVID‐19 heightened this barrier with a sudden restriction on student training for an indefinite period of time. The onset of these restrictions highlighted the need to think creatively and, more importantly, collaboratively for ways to not only expand but also maintain fieldwork training capacity. Described here are two different collaborative efforts in response to pandemic‐related cancellations of important curriculum components: 1) the development of clinical simulation experiences and coursework shared between two ACGC accredited training programs; and 2) the creation of a virtual laboratory curriculum between an ACGC accredited training program and a non‐academic laboratory partner. This Professional Issues paper illustrates how collaboration with our academic and non‐academic colleagues benefits students, training programs and non‐academic partners beyond the needs of the initial crisis of a global pandemic.