6 feet apart but working together.

Area of Science:

• Genetic Counseling
• Medical Education
• Public Health

Background:

• The genetic counseling field faced pre-existing workforce shortages, exacerbated by limited fieldwork training sites.
• The COVID-19 pandemic imposed sudden restrictions on student training, highlighting critical gaps in fieldwork capacity.
• Existing training models were insufficient to address the immediate and long-term needs for genetic counselor education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe innovative collaborative strategies for maintaining and expanding genetic counseling fieldwork training during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To illustrate the benefits of inter-programmatic and academic-non-academic partnerships in genetic counseling education.
• To provide a model for resilient training in allied health professions facing external disruptions.

Main Methods:

• Development of shared clinical simulation experiences and coursework between two accredited genetic counseling training programs.
• Creation of a virtual laboratory curriculum in collaboration with a non-academic laboratory partner.
• Implementation of these novel approaches to supplement or replace traditional fieldwork components.

Main Results:

• Collaborative efforts successfully provided essential training experiences despite pandemic-related restrictions.
• Shared resources and virtual curricula expanded training capacity and maintained educational continuity.
• Both students and participating training programs benefited from the innovative, shared learning models.

Conclusions:

• Collaboration between academic genetic counseling programs and with non-academic partners is crucial for overcoming training barriers.
• Creative solutions like shared simulations and virtual labs enhance the resilience and capacity of genetic counseling education.
• These collaborative models offer sustainable benefits beyond crisis situations, strengthening the genetic counseling workforce.