Teaching Psychiatric Pharmacogenomics Effectively: Evaluation of a Novel Interprofessional Online Course

AbstractIntroductionThe application of pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing to guide psychotropic use is increasing, but there is a lack of training opportunities for health care providers designed specifically around the unique issues impacting the use and interpretation of PGx in psychiatry. Furthermore, providing such education online greatly improves the accessibility of such training.ObjectiveThe objective was to design and evaluate a live online continuing education (CE) course on psychiatric PGx for health care providers.MethodsA multidisciplinary team of experts in psychiatry, PGx, and medical education research designed a three‐session online course to discuss key psychiatric PGx topics ranging from fundamental background material, selecting a test, and interpreting and applying results. A deliberate design of the program was to offer the course three times, in order to allow successive improvements to each iteration. To evaluate the course, pre‐ and post‐surveys were developed with the intent of capturing change in the four Dixon levels of CE evaluation on attendee perceptions and opinions, knowledge and attitudes, and impact on clinical practice and patient outcomes.ResultsIn the third course iteration, 32 health care providers registered. Among survey respondents, the course materials, speakers, organization, and online format were reviewed favorably by the majority of attendees. Perceived knowledge of PGx increased in every identified PGx topic domain and was largely reflected by improved knowledge assessment scores. A limited number of survey participants also indicated changes in clinical behavior and patient outcomes as a direct result of the material covered in this course.ConclusionsAmong survey respondents, this novel online PGx course proved effective at increasing provider understanding and confidence in key psychiatric PGx topic areas. It also demonstrated the viability of the online format, a vital characteristic to allow for future widespread dissemination.