Addressing Genetics, Delivering Health - genetics education for health professionals

This project came about when the Department of Health and The Wellcome Trust commissioned the PHGU to develop a national strategy for the education of health professionals in genetics.

The project report, “Addressing Genetics, Delivering Health”, was the culmination of a two-year process whose key feature was the involvement of representatives from the professional groups themselves. Workshop participants from the fields of general practice, post-graduate medicine, nursing and midwifery, pharmacy, dietetics and health service management worked with the project team to identify their own learning needs and the resources that will be required to meet those needs. Input from patients was considered crucial, so an additional workshop explored the needs of those who use genetic services, and their views about what the health professionals involved in their care need to know.

The project also featured a review of medical undergraduate education in genetics, a review of postgraduate nurse education in genetics, a review of genetics departments websites, a seminar on some of the changing relationships between public and professionals, and a survey of educational work in genetics undertaken by pharmaceutical industry.

Genetics and Health Policy course

Genetics and Health Policy is an intensive, five-day, residential two-part course covering the public health and policy implications of advances in genetic science. This highly-regarded course is run approximately every two years; the most recent course was held in December 2005 (Part 1) and March 2006 (Part 2).

Participants receive a thorough grounding in ‘the new genetics’ and its impact on healthcare, and develop the expertise for shaping and implementing the policy agenda for genetics in the coming years. Course delegates have included public health and primary care doctors, genetics professionals, health service managers, specialist commissioners, specialist nurses and nurse educators, health service policy makers, social scientists and ethicists. Developed and led by a teaching faculty of leading experts from a range of disciplines, the course includes:

• Presentations by specialists on topics including the basics of genetics and disease, the human genome project, UK Biobank, pharmacogenomics and post-genomic technologies and the policy framework for genetics.
• Combined lecture and discussion sessions on stem cell medicine, behavioural genetics and the impact of gene patenting on genetics in the health service.
• Workshops and case studies to explore clinical, ethical, and policy issues associated with genetic testing and risk assessment, the use of genetic information and reproductive genetics.
• Extensive course pack including course notes, key papers and policy documents, as well as pre-course reading.

Contacts: Philippa Brice, Alison Stewart

Specialist registrar training placements in public health genetics

Together with the Faculty of Public Health Medicine and the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Cambridge, we offer a training programme for final year Specialist Registrars who wish to gain specialised experience in public health genetics.

Placements are suitable for senior trainees in public health medicine. Trainees are based at the PHGU in the Strangeways Research Laboratory, Cambridge and are supervised by a Consultant in Public Health Medicine who has special experience in public health genetics. The placement includes time in the Addenbrooke’s Medical Genetics Department including both clinical and laboratory aspects of genetics, under the supervision of one of the Consultants in Medical Genetics.

The purpose of the placement is to enable the trainee to gain a greater understanding of genetics and its implications for disease causation, prevention, health promotion and the development of health services. Its objectives are:

(a) To gain a basic understanding of the molecular biology of genetic inheritance and variation

(b) To increase understanding of the epidemiological and statistical methods that are used to study risk factors and diseases which have a genetic predisposition or component

(c) To understand the processes of referral, clinical assessment, including early identification, diagnosis, testing, counselling, interventions, screening, and health promotion with disease prevention strategies and programmes

(d) To understand the relevant ethical, social, economic and legal issues raised by genetic testing

(e) To gain understanding of the interactions amongst genes and environmental factors and behaviours that contribute to health and disease

(f) To be familiar with the information sources required for the policy and planning of genetic services

The programme includes

• educational opportunities in genetic epidemiology and public health aspects of genetics through private study and supervision supplemented with access to extensive educational materials developed by PHGU
• opportunity to undertake a public health project in an area involving genetics
• attendance at general and specialist genetics clinics (subject to the consent of patients and families) to gain an appreciation of the approach and methods of the clinical genetics team
• an attachment to the molecular genetics and cytogenetics laboratories to gain an understanding of the principles and technologies of clinical genetic testing and the interpretation of test results
• opportunity to attend seminar series and other departmental activities in the PHGU and the department of medical genetics.

 
Contact: Hilary Burton