Integrating Genomics into Nursing Research and Clinical Practice: Advancing Precision, Ethics, and Equity

Background: Genomics is rapidly reshaping healthcare by enabling more precise prevention strategies, earlier risk identification, and individualized treatment selection. As genetic and genomic testing expands across oncology, cardiovascular care, pharmacotherapy, reproductive health, and rare disease diagnosis, nurses are increasingly positioned at the front line of patient education, consent conversations, family history assessment, and follow-up care. At the same time, genomics introduces complex ethical and practical challenges—such as privacy and data governance, implications for family members, uncertain or incidental findings, and unequal access to testing and interpretation. Nursing research and practice must therefore evolve to ensure genomic innovations translate into patient-centered care that is clinically useful, ethically sound, and equitable across diverse populations and health systems. This Research Topic aims to address a persistent gap: despite the growing availability of genomic tools, integration into everyday nursing practice remains uneven, with variability in workforce preparation, workflow support, and ethical guidance. Many clinical settings lack scalable models for genomic counseling support, culturally responsive communication, and decision aids that fit nursing practice realities. Recent advances—such as polygenic risk scores, rapid sequencing in acute and neonatal care, pharmacogenomics for medication safety, clinical decision support embedded in electronic health records, and AI-assisted variant interpretation—create new opportunities, but also amplify concerns about bias, informed consent quality, and data misuse. We seek research that identifies effective implementation strategies, strengthens nursing competencies, and evaluates patient outcomes. The goal is to develop evidence-based, equity-centered frameworks that help nurses lead genomic-informed care, safeguard patient rights, and ensure benefits reach underserved groups rather than widening existing disparities.
Scope and information for Authors: We welcome contributions that advance genomic nursing science across clinical, community, and policy contexts. Priority themes include:

• Implementation and evaluation of genomic workflows in nursing care

• Genomic literacy, competency development, and curriculum innovation

• Ethical, legal, and social implications, including consent, privacy, family communication, and return of results

• Equity-focused research addressing access, structural bias in genomic datasets, and culturally safe communication

• Patient- and family-centered decision support tools

• Integration of pharmacogenomics and precision medicine into nursing practice

• Digital health and clinical decision support approaches that support nurses

Manuscripts may include original quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods studies; systematic/scoping reviews; methodological papers; policy perspectives; and theory-building or framework development papers.