Primary care doctors reluctant to provide genetics assessment in routine care

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

11-Sep-2014

Contact: Mary Masson mfmasson@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System @UMHealthSystem

Ann Arbor, Mich. Primary care providers report many challenges to integrating genetics services into routine primary care, according to research published today in Genetics in Medicine.

Medical genetics medicine has traditionally been used to identify and diagnose rare diseases, but in the last decade it has been increasingly helpful in determining patients at risk for genetically-based conditions who can benefit from preventive health care, says the study's senior author, Beth Tarini, M.D., M.S., F.A.A.P., assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School and C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.

"Genetics is not just about rare diseases and specialists. PCPs rely on genetics frequently during preventive care visits especially when taking family histories and assessing a patient's risk of more common, but chronic, diseases. So the fact that PCPs report many barriers to embracing and performing these tasks is concerning, " says Tarini, who is also an investigator at U-M's Child Health Evaluation & Research (CHEAR) Unit and co-medical director of the Genetics in Primary Care Institute (GPCI), a project of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Tarini and her co-investigators conducted a systematic literature review to assess reported barriers from primary care physicians across multiple practice settings, including pediatrics, family medicine, and obstetrics-gynecology.

Primary care physicians most frequently reported that their knowledge and competence related to genetic medicine is insufficient, according to the study.

Other barriers mentioned most often included a lack of knowledge about genetic risk assessment, concern for patient anxiety, a lack of access to genetics, and a lack of time.

"Shedding light on remaining challenges and misperceptions that physicians continue to experience related to genetic medicine in the primary care setting can provide opportunities for intervention in order to improve the delivery of care," says the study's lead author Natalie A. Mikat-Stevens, M.P.H., project manager for the Genetics in Primary Care Institute at the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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Primary care doctors reluctant to provide genetics assessment in routine care