The application window for the Logan Health Genetics Fundamentals of Genomics Course and NP/PA Genomics Fellowship program is now open. The program development was headed by Logan Health’s director of Genetics Development, Carrie Thompson, who hopes to integrate genetic services into all areas of healthcare.
Applications open Thursday, September 1, 2022, for the Logan Health Fundamentals of Genomics Course and NP/PA Genomics Fellowship program. Candidates will receive 52 continuing nursing education credits, including 2.5 pharmacology credits.
“I am extremely excited for this program and hopeful that it will encourage all providers to increase genetic service access,” said Thompson. “Genetic testing will drive precision medicine initiatives, which will improve health outcomes.”
The Fundamentals of Genomics course offers a distinctive training opportunity for interested candidates, because it is the first course of its kind to provide general training that encompasses all disciplines of medicine outside of a medical genetics fellowship. The course can also be done completely remote, making it available internationally.
Nurse practitioners and physician assistants who are on the front lines seeing patients are ideal candidates to get involved in genetic screening and surveillance practices, and the Fundamentals of Genomics Course provides an opportunity to learn more about genetic testing to drive precision medicine without applying for the fellowship program.
“Typically, in order to get advanced genetics training, providers have to complete a formal graduate or doctoral program,” said Thompson. “Providers often have to leave the community to obtain advanced knowledge or skills. Our program is unique in that you can obtain a high level of genetics training that can be applied across the lifespan and used in daily practice and any healthcare field without leaving the valley.”
“Genetic results can help people make decisions about having children, result in early detection and can help identify lifetime risk for disease that may promote lifestyle changes and save lives.”
Logan Health is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the Montana Nurses Association, an accredited approver with distinction by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
The curriculum aims to educate about prenatal, preconception, pediatric genetic conditions, adult genetic condition, and drug metabolism problems.
Applications will be accepted and reviewed between September 1 and November 30 each year, and fellowship cohorts will commence training the first Monday of each January.