Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Genetics Education for Health Professionals: A Context

  • Professional Issues
  • Published:
Journal of Genetic Counseling

Abstract

Education of health professionals about genetics is essential to the integration of genetics into mainstream health care, but there are a number of associated challenges. By virtue of their training, genetic counselors are well suited to address many of those challenges and to assume a variety of roles related to genetics education for health professionals. This paper provides a brief overview of the status of genetics education for non-genetics health professionals and reviews the context in which educational efforts are likely to occur.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ACOG & ACMG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American College of Medical Genetics) (2001). Preconception and prenatal carrier screening for cystic fibrosis: Clinical and laboratory guidelines. Washington, D.C.: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowcock, A. M. (2007). Genomics: Guilt by association. Nature, 447(7145), 645–646.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, S. B. (2005). Endless forms most beautiful: The new science of evo devo. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Childs B. (1999). Genetic medicine: A logic of disease. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Childs, B., Wiener, C., & Valle, D. (2005). A science of the individual: Implications for a medical school curriculum. In A. Chakravarti & E. Green (Eds.), Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics. Palo Alto, Ca.: Annual Reviews.

    Google Scholar 

  • Consensus Panel. (2006). Essential nursing competencies and curricula guidelines for genetics and genomics. Silver Spring, Maryland: American Nurses Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Core Competencies Working Group of the National Coalition of Health Professional Education in Genetics. (2001). Recommendations of core competencies in genetics essential for all health professionals. Genet Med 3:155–158; also available at http://www.nchpeg.org/gov/gov_structure.html.

    Google Scholar 

  • CSIEM (Committee for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism). (1975). Genetic screening: Programs, principles, and research. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diabetes Genetics Initiative of Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Lund University, and Novartis Institutes of BioMedical Research, Saxena, R., Voight, B. F., et al. (2007). Genome-wide association analysis identifies loci for type 2 diabetes and triglyceride levels. Science, 316(5829),1331–1336.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein C. J. (2004). Genetic testing: Hope or hype. Genetics in Medicine, 6(4), 165–172.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fry, A., Campbell, H., Gudmunsdottir, H., Rush, R, Porteous, M., Gorman, D., et al. (1999). GPs’ views on their role in cancer genetics services and current practice. Family Practice, 16(5), 468–474.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goh, K. I., Cusick, M. E., Valle, D., Childs, B., Vidal, M., & Barabasi, A. L. (2007). The human disease network. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(21), 8685–8690.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Greendale, K., & Pyeritz, R. E. (2001). Empowering primary care health professionals in medical genetics: How soon? How fast? How far? American Journal of Medical Genetics (Semin Med Genet), 106, 223–232.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Groopman, J. (2007). How doctors think. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross, S. J. (2006). You’ve got the right result, but does the patient really “get it”? Genetic Applications in Practice, NCHPEG, spring/summer.

  • Guttmacher, A. E., Collins, F. S., & Carmona, R. H. (2004). The family history – More important than ever. NEJM, 351(22), 2333–2336.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guttmacher, A. E., Jenkins, J., & Uhlmann, W. R. (2001). Genomic medicine: Who will practice it? A call to open arms. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Semin Med Genet), 106, 216–222.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guttmacher, A. E., Porteous, M. E., & McInerney, J. D. (2007). Educating health-care professionals about genetics and genomics. Nat Rev Genet, 8(2), 151–157.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, E. K., Fogel, C. E., Peyrot, M., Christensen, K. D., Terry, S. F., & McInerney, J. D. (2007a). Providers’ knowledge of genetics: A survey of 5915 individuals and families with genetic conditions. Genetics in Medicine, 9(5), 259–267.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, E. K., Stanton, S., Garrett, J., Neils-Strunjas, J., & Warren, N. S. (2007b). A case for genetics education: Collaborating with speech-language pathologists and audiologists. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 143A(14), 1554–1559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayflick, S. J., & Eiff, M. P. (2002). Will the learners be learned? Genetics in Medicine, 4(2), 43–44.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helgadottir, A., Thorleifsson, G., Manolescu, A., Gretarsdottir, S., Blondal, T., et al. (2007). A common variant on chromosome 9p21 affects the risk of myocardial infarction. Science, 316(5830), 1491–1493.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hsia, Y. E., Bucholz, K. E., & Austein, C. A. (1979). Genetic knowledge of pediatricians and Obstetricians (Connecticut, 1975, 1977): Implications for continuing education, In I. H. Porter and E. B. Hook (Eds.), Service and education in medical genetics. New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, K., Javitt, G., Burke, W., Byers, P., & the ASHG Social Issues Committee. (2007). ASHG statement on direct-to-consumer genetic testing in the United States. American Journal of Human Genetics, 81(3), 635–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IHGSC (International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium) (2004). Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome. Nature, 431(7011), 931–945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korf, B. R. (2005). Genetics in medical practice: The need for ultimate makeover. Genetics in Medicine, 7(5), 293–294.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Korf, B. R., Feldman, G., & Wiesner, G. L. (2005). Report of Banbury Summit meeting on training of physicians in medical genetics, October 20–22, 2004. Genetics in Medicine, 7(6), 433–438.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McGovern, M. M. (2006). Communicating with the lab: Is the staff on board? Genetic Applications in Practice, NCHPEG, spring/summer.

  • PMC (Personalized Medicine Coalition). (2006). The case for personalized medicine. Washington, D.C.: Personalized Medicine Coalition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resta, R., Biesecker, B. B., Bennett, R. L., et al. (2006). A new definition of genetic counseling: National Society of Genetic Counselors’ Task Force Report. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 15(2), 77–83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Royal Society. (2005). Personalised medicines: Hopes and realities. London: The Royal Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheuner, M. T., Wang, S. J., Raffel, L. J., Larabell, S. K., & Rotter, J. I. (1997). Family history: A comprehensive genetic risk assessment method for the chronic conditions of adulthood. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 71, 315–324.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sconce, E. A., Khan, T. I., Wynne, H. A., Avery, P., Monkhouse, L., King, B. P., et al. (2005). The impact of CYP2C9 and VKORC1 genetic polymorphism and patient characteristics upon warfarin dose requirements: Proposal for a new dosing regimen. Blood, 106(7), 2329–2333.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scriver, C. R. (2002). Why mutation analysis does not always predict clinical consequences: Explanations in the era of genomics. Journal of Pediatrics, 140(5), 502–506.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • USNCHS (United States National Center for Health Statistics. (2005). Leading causes of death in the United States, 2003. Washington, D.C.: United States National Center for Health Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, J. D., & Crick, F. H. C. (1953). A structure for desoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature, 171, 737–738.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. (2007). Genome-wide association study of 14,000 cases of seven common diseases and 3,000 shared controls. Nature, 447(7145), 661–678.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuchner S., Roberts, S. T., Speer, M. C., & Beckham, J. C. (2007). Update on psychiatric genetics. Genetics in Medicine, 9(6), 332-340.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NCHPEG, 2360 West Joppa Road Suite 320, Lutherville, MD, 21093, USA

    Joseph D. McInerney

Authors
  1. Joseph D. McInerney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph D. McInerney.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McInerney, J.D. Genetics Education for Health Professionals: A Context. J Genet Counsel 17, 145–151 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-007-9126-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-007-9126-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation