A Scoping Review: Do instruments measuring genomic competence in nursing incorporate ethics?
Mari Laaksonen, Elisa Airikkala, Arja Halkoaho and 1 others
PMID 37221954WHAT IT FOUND
Most nursing genomics tools ignore ethics or bury it in vague questions about 'advantages' or 'rights'.
Only three instruments asked direct ethical questions. Nurses reported low confidence in resolving ethical issues, but current assessments fail to measure this specific competence accurately.
Key findings
01Only 11 of 25 articles mentioned ethics, and only three instruments asked questions containing the word 'ethics'.
02Nine instruments contained no visible or hidden ethical questions at all.
03When ethics was measured, it was often combined with legal, social, and cultural issues into single, broad questions that did not separate distinct skills.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The search was limited to two databases, which may have missed relevant studies. Full instruments were not available for all articles, so some ethical themes might have been missed or misinterpreted. The review focused on the content of instruments, not the accuracy of the studies themselves.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were reported in the text provided.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a nurse's high score on a genomic competence survey reflects strong ethical judgment. Most instruments do not test ethical skills directly, and those that do often combine them with unrelated legal or cultural factors, making the score difficult to interpret in isolation.