Genetics and genomics knowledge and competency of Chinese nurses based on the theory of diffusion of innovation: A descriptive cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Nurses are responsible for providing genetics and genomics health care services, including disease risk assessment, medical referrals, and advocating for communities and individuals who probably benefit from genomics and genetics services. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate Chinese nurses' understanding and previous training in genomics and genetics. Additionally, we aimed to understand the degree to which Chinese nurses use genomics and genetics knowledge in their daily practice and to assess the learning needs regarding genomics and genetics. METHOD: This study utilized the design of a descriptive cross-sectional study. From January 18 to March 15, 2022, 406 registered nurses from the Shandong province of China working in clinical institutions and with good English proficiency were recruited as study subjects. Nurses' demographic data and data related to genetic knowledge and competency were collected using the Genetics and Genomics Nursing Practice Survey (GGNPS) questionnaire. Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney-U tests were utilized to investigate the descriptive statistics and non-normally distributed data. RESULTS: There are 406 nurses from Shandong Province, China participated in the study. Among them, BSN degrees accounted for 83.7%. Female nurses accounted for 96.8%, and 40% are clinical nurses. Among such nurses, 65.5% reported that genetics was involved in their nursing courses, and 56.2% planned to study more knowledge associated with genetics. The mean knowledge score was 7.35 (out of 12). Nurses' gender, primary role, genomics education, and experience caring for patients with common diseases influenced nurses' scores on genetic and genomics knowledge. CONCLUSION: The genomics knowledge and competency of Chinese nurses need to be further improved. Incorporating genomics into the standard nursing curriculum can effectively reduce the knowledge gap. Simultaneously, it is also necessary to improve the attention of senior nurses and nursing managers to genomics nursing and improve the clinical practice environment.