Actionable companion · Assessment and evidence of learning

From evidence to district action: Nursing roles, competencies, and education in precision oncology: a scoping review

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide. The district actions are proposed applications, not findings or recommendations attributed to the original authors. No additional peer review is asserted.

Evidence and context

Health-professions education context: test transfer to K–12 rather than assuming it.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the linked source license:

Summary Background Nurses contribute across the precision cancer care pathway, providing continuous, person-centred care and supporting genomic testing integration. However, the scope of nursing competencies required for precision cancer care and the extent to which current education prepares nurses for these roles remain unclear. This scoping review maps and synthesises evidence on nurses’ roles and competencies in precision cancer care, and educational provision in this field. Methods A JBI scoping review was conducted; MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase and Scopus were systematically searched on July 18th 2025. International postgraduate and continuing professional education programmes relevant to nurses were identified via a generative artificial intelligence grey literature search undertaken between July 25th and July 30th 2025. Data were synthesised using convergent integrated thematic synthesis. Findings Fifty-two publications were included, addressing nursing roles and/or competencies (n = 44) and educational interventions (n = 23). Sixty-five education programmes were identified. Five themes captured nursing roles: 1) genomic risk assessment and stratification; 2) genomic communication and shared decision-making; 3) precision cancer care pathway coordination and clinical navigation; 4) interprofessional collaboration and genomic service integration; and 5) professional governance, quality assurance, and advanced practice roles. Educational provision predominantly addressed foundational competencies, with less explicit preparation for roles requiring professional autonomy, interpretive expertise, leadership, and governance. Interpretation Alignment between nurses’ competency expectations and educational preparation is uneven. We propose a three-level model of precision cancer nursing practice to differentiate foundational capabilities from advanced practice roles, distinguishing precision-informed, enhanced, and specialist precision cancer nursing practice. Explicit mapping of postgraduate curricula to stratified competency levels may support safe expansion of nursing scope within mainstreamed genomic cancer care. Funding This research was supported with funding from the 10.13039/501100001638Dublin City University Undergraduate Summer Research Internship 2025, which supported AC’s time on the project. The authors alone are responsible for the content of this presentation.

A 90-day district pilot

1. Days 1–15 · Appraise. Have the curriculum lead and a teacher read the methods and limitations. Record the study design, sample, comparator, outcomes and evidence gaps. Define a local question that the study can help inform.
2. Days 16–30 · Design. Redesign one low-stakes assessment: require a first attempt, an AI-assisted revision, a source-check log and a short oral explanation. Use the same rubric for the comparison task. Name an accountable owner and set the baseline, success threshold and budget before implementation.
3. Days 31–60 · Test. Start with a small voluntary cohort, preserve an accessible non-AI route and require teacher review. Use synthetic or de-identified examples; approve data handling and tool terms through district processes.
4. Days 61–90 · Decide. Blind-score reasoning, factual accuracy and unaided transfer on a fresh task. Record suspected misconduct separately from demonstrated evidence. Compare with baseline, document uncertainty and stop or revise if learning worsens, access is unequal or critical errors persist.

The board decision brief

Report the learning problem, evidence quality, participating population, total cost including review time, measured benefit, errors, access differences and remaining uncertainties. Make a dated recommendation to stop, revise or expand. A positive perception survey alone does not establish learning improvement.

Attribution and reuse

Amanda Drury; Sarah Sheehan; Alicia Cunningham; Memnun Seven; Fiona Hurley; Paula Flanagan; Mary Tanay; Kristen R. Haase; Sara Colomer Lahiguera; Maura Dowling. Nursing roles, competencies, and education in precision oncology: a scoping review. eClinicalMedicine (2026-07-21). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2026.104080

Companion prepared 2026-10-30. Original authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract is an attributed source extract; the implementation plan is new AI-assisted editorial material, offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license. This guide has not undergone independent peer review.