Date of Conferral

6-24-2025

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Brenda Kulhanek

Abstract

The project was an educational DNP project that aimed to improve staff knowledge on genetic testing. The practice focused question was “Will an education module on best practices for genetic testing increase self-reported knowledge among health care professionals in a mental health clinic?” The purposes of genetic testing in psychiatry are to improve pharmacological therapy through better prescription of the right medications (Pinzón-Espinosa et al., 2022). The implementation of genetic testing at the project site is limited due to gaps in knowledge and attitudes as well as efficacy of this intervention. The leaders at the practicum site supported the potential improvement in knowledge and attitudes in genetic testing among the nurses. The conceptual framework that I used is Kirkpatrick model of training evaluation. The analytical methods were a pre-question and post-question design for assessing improvement in staff knowledge. The answers to each question were compared to determine if there was improvement. The findings of the staff education project showed that there was a 62.766% improvement in staff knowledge on genetic testing. Due to the limited sample of participants, the project cannot be generalized. However, the project can be recommended for improving staff knowledge needed to guide prescription of psychotropic medications. The potential implications to the nursing practice include improving nurses’ knowledge on ordering and interpreting tests and prescription of medications. Potentially, this could lead to creation of better and individualized treatment plans for psychiatric patients and knowledge on improving the efficacy of psychotropic medications. Therefore, nurses’ improvement in staff knowledge can help to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion by improving development of individualized care plans.

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