Direct-to-consumer genetic testing: where and how does genetic counseling fit?

Direct-to-consumer genetic testing for disease ranges from well-validated diagnostic and predictive tests to 'research' results conferring increased risks. While being targeted at public curious about their health, they are also marketed for use in reproductive decision-making or management of disease. By virtue of being 'direct-to-consumer' much of this testing bypasses traditional healthcare systems.

Interventions to improve patient access to and utilisation of genetic and genomic counselling services.

Unlabelled: This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows.

Primary Objective: The primary objective is to assess the effectiveness of interventions to improve patient identification, access to and utilisation of genetic and genomic counselling services when compared to: No intervention;Usual or current practice; andOther active intervention.

Educational priorities and current involvement in genetic practice: a survey of midwives in the Netherlands, UK and Sweden.

Objective: to investigate whether practising midwives are adequately prepared to integrate genetic information into their practice.

Design: a cross-sectional, postal, structured questionnaire survey was sent to practising midwives.

Setting: practising midwives from the Netherlands (NL), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

Genetics teaching for non-geneticist health care professionals in the UK.

Objectives: It was the aim of this study to describe the structure and content of training in genetics for non-genetics specialist health care professionals in the UK.

Methods: Data were collected by assessment of published syllabi and curricula and through contact with educational leads at responsible organisations.

Results: Twenty-six universities, 7 Royal Colleges and various intercollegiate boards and committees are involved in the provision of medical education at various levels, in addition to institutions offering nursing and/or midwifery training.

Recognising the limitations of your genetics expertise.

The sixth article in this series aims to provide you with sufficient knowledge to refer a client for further genetic assessment. The focus is on the skills needed to recognise the limitations of one's own genetics competence, as described in the competency standard statement; this is that, at the point of registration, all nurses, midwives and health visitors should be able to recognise the limitations of their own genetics experience based on an understanding of their professional role in the referral, provision or follow up to genetics services.