Training activity information
Details
Analyse the appropriate genetic testing for solid tumour referrals, to include:
- Ovarian cancer
- Colorectal cancer
Type
Developmental training activity (DTA)
Evidence requirements
Evidence the activity has been undertaken by the trainee.
Reflection on the activity at one or more time points after the event including learning from the activity and/or areas of the trainees practice for development.
An action plan to implement learning and/or to address skills or knowledge gaps identified.
Reflective practice guidance
The guidance below is provided to support reflection at different time points, providing you with questions to aid you to reflect for this training activity. They are provided for guidance and should not be considered as a mandatory checklist. Trainees should not be expected to provide answers to each of the guidance questions listed.
Before action
- What are the current guidelines and criteria for referring patients with suspected ovarian or colorectal cancer for genetic testing?
- What clinical and pathological information is crucial to evaluate whether the requested genetic tests are suitable for the individual case?
- What are some common scenarios where a genetic test referral for a solid tumour might not be considered appropriate?
- What specific insights do you hope to gain regarding the key determinants of appropriate genetic testing in ovarian and colorectal cancer?
- How will you develop your ability to assess referral details and match them with relevant genetic testing strategies?
- How will this activity enhance your understanding of the clinical context of genetic testing for solid tumours?
- Will you review example referral forms and discuss with your training officer the essential information needed to assess the appropriateness of testing for ovarian and colorectal cancer?
- What resources (e.g., NICE guidelines, local testing algorithms) will you consult to understand the criteria for genetic testing in these solid tumours?
- What potential challenges might you face when analysing the appropriateness of a referral (e.g., unclear tumour histology, lack of family history)? How might you approach these?
In action
- How are you currently approaching the analysis of these solid tumour results, and what real-time decisions are you making to focus on specific genes and evaluate variant significance using databases and literature?
- What challenges are you encountering in this moment—such as interpreting low-frequency variants, resistance mechanisms, or differentiating somatic from germline findings—and how effectively are you identifying actionable alterations?
- How are you managing ambiguity or technical constraints, for instance by seeking specialist advice for complex cases or ensuring your analysis accounts for input DNA quality and assay limitations?
On action
- What were the key genetic alterations that you focused on in the ovarian and colorectal cancer cases?
- Were there any challenges in distinguishing driver mutations from passenger mutations?
- How did the histological and clinical information influence your analysis?
- Did you improve your ability to analyse genetic data relevant to ovarian and colorectal cancer?
- Did you gain a better understanding of the prognostic and predictive significance of specific genetic alterations in these tumours?
- How do you approach the analysis of complex genomic reports for solid tumours?
- What further training or resources will you seek to enhance your analytical skills in solid tumour genetics?
- How will you integrate different sources of information (e.g., clinical, pathological, genetic) in your analysis?
- What are the key quality control measures to consider during the analysis process?
Beyond action
- Reflecting on your initial experiences analysing genetic data for ovarian and colorectal cancer, how has your understanding of the challenges specific to solid tumour analysis (e.g., variant allele frequencies, clonal evolution) evolved?
- Have you learned new bioinformatic tools or interpretation guidelines that have enhanced your ability to analyse this type of data?
- How have the analytical skills developed here been transferable to your analysis of genetic data from other solid tumour types?
- As the use of comprehensive genomic profiling in solid tumours expands, how will your foundational analytical skills prepare you to interpret and report on increasingly complex datasets?
Relevant learning outcomes
| # | Outcome |
|---|---|
| # 3 |
Outcome
Analyse, interpret and report tests for patients referred with sporadic cancer. |