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ANNA endorses "Essential Nursing Competencies and Curricula Guidelines for Genetics and Genomics"

March 27, 2006

Jean Jenkins
jean.jenkins@nih.gov
(sent via e-mail)

Dear Ms. Jenkins:

ANNA thanks the American Nurses Association (ANA) for the opportunity to review and respond to “The Essential Nursing Competencies and Curricula Guidelines for Genetics and Genomics” document. ANNA represents 12,000 nephrology nurses and, as a professional nursing organization that supports the baccalaureate as entry into practice (EIP), the ANA Standards of Clinical and Professional Practice, and values scholarship and practice that are evidence-based, we are pleased to endorse these competencies and curricula guidelines. Nephrology nurses care for a chronic disease population, with diabetes the leading cause, which we know has genetic and familial links not to mention the cystic diseases, all the autoimmune causes, and the inherited syndromes. Many of the pharmaceuticals we use in the treatment of chronic kidney disease are genetically engineered. The whole premise on which we are able to transplant our patients is the ability to match tissue and effectively suppress those antigens we can't match.

ANNA agrees with pleasure to be listed in the final competency document as an endorsing organization.

ANNA plans to disseminate the competency document to our specialty by posting it on the ANNA Web site, putting an announcement in the ANNA E-News and ANNA Update, and asking the Conferences Committee to plan a session addressing this topic at a future national meeting.

You will be interested to know that in ANNA’s recently released Contemporary Nephrology Nursing textbook (2nd ed., 2006), Chapter 7 is titled “Genetics and Kidney Disease.” We also will assure that this topic is included in the 2008 revision of the Core Curriculum for Nephrology Nursing as well as some test questions on the certification exams as they are developed and/or updated.

Lesley Dinwiddie, MSN, RN, FNP, CNN
Immediate Past President

For more information about the competencies and their development, go to www.nursingworld.org/ethics/genetics/.