Health Professionals, Public Unprepared For Genomic Medicine

Good points made by this article...it is a retraining process not only for patients but physicians as well as the entire diagnosis process is changing from how it has evolved over the years...in short like everything else there's more knowledge readily available, more to consider in the decision making process, etc. and then we have privacy issues to consider as well...and the physicians generally do not have enough clinical research information for judging potential outcomes...and then of course, will the insurance carrier cover the expense? BD

Although advances in Genomic medicine for common adult chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer hold promise for improved prevention, diagnosis and treatment, health professionals and the public are not prepared to effectively integrate these new tools into practice, according to a study released by researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the RAND Corporation.
Physicians and patients are optimistic about the health benefits that genetic testing might provide, but neither group is well informed about genetics and there are likely too few experts available to meet growing demands for genetic testing, according to the study in the March 19 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Primary care clinicians are on the front lines of patient care and they are going to need to be prepared to incorporate genetics into their practices," Scheuner said. "Training and educating the healthcare workforce about the role of genetics in their clinical practice and increasing the size of the genetics specialty workforce are potential solutions to barriers we identified."