What needs to be done?

Establishing stakeholder partnerships paves the way for developing an action plan for your clinical setting.

Pull Together Your Team

Teamwork can assure that others in your organization understand the relevancy and importance of integrating genomics into practice, and how you plan to get there.

Obtain support from Senior leadership (see Educator Resource Integrating Genetics & Genomics Education into Nursing Workforce Clinical Practice). When staff see that leadership value this initiative it emphasizes the relevancy for them.
Review results from the baseline organizational needs assessment related to knowledgebase/competency (see GGNPS survey):
Form a steering committee (individuals to consider)
1. Clinical Nurse Specialist/Educators
2. Shared decision making council members
3. Nurse Practitioner
4. Genetic Counselor (s)
5. CNO
6. Physician champions
7. School of nursing representative
8. IT computer services representative
9. Pharmacists
10. Staff nurses
Develop an education competency plan based on needs identified: Action Plan Form and Action Plan Instruction

Establish Your Action Plan

There are a minimum of seven areas to consider in establishing an action plan for the integration of genetics and genomics into policy and practice. It is recommended the entire scope of nursing colleagues including clinical staff, clinical leaders, policy systems, researchers, educators, and hospital administrators are considered. Realize strategic partnerships are required to assure success of the Plan.

Areas to include when setting goals and how you will measure success:

Personal Development
Genetics/Genomics in Practice Assessment
Policy Genetic/Genomic Content Assessment
Staff Genetic/Genomic Knowledge Needs Assessment
Staff Development
Plans for Genetic/Genomic Integration
Anticipated Obstacles and Challenges

Update Your Action Plan Quarterly

It is valuable to have the team update progress made and challenges encountered on the Action Plan at least quarterly. This can be achieved by adding a few extra columns on the Action Plan to document an Activities Update since the last report and Reviewer Comments to document any recommended changes. The Reviewer Comments column allows documentation of any issues encountered, problem solving, modifications made to goals or timeline, and attainment of goals. Discussion with Leadership about the Action Plan updates can facilitate ongoing support, assure that everyone is in agreement with plans, knows when success is achieved, or can problem solve before issues create bottlenecks.