Page 171 - Genomic Medicine in Emerging Economies

160 CHAPTER 9: Raising Genomics Awareness

In this chapter the overall educational and outreaching activities of the Golden
Helix Foundation will be outlined, as a paradigm of a well-orchestrated effort
to (1) enrich genomics education among healthcare professionals, namely,
physicians and biomedical scientists, and (2) increase genomic literacy among
patients and the general public.

GENOMICS EDUCATION OF HEALTHCARE
PROFESSIONALS

One of the key elements to ensure efficient integration of genomics into clini-
cal practice is the enrichment of health professionals’ genomics knowledge.
Presently, a typical practicing physician has only very limited training in genet-
ics, suggested by previous studies in the United States (Haga et al., 2012a;
Stanek et al., 2012) and Europe (Mai et al., 2014, and references therein). Also,
as far as pharmacogenomic testing is concerned, even when clinical geneticists
and genetic counselors were surveyed, only a small fraction of them (e.g., 12%
of genetic counselors and 41% of clinical geneticists) indicated that they had
ordered or coordinated patient care for pharmacogenomic testing. In the latter
case, despite the fact that almost all respondents had received some education
on pharmacogenomics, only 28% of counselors and 58% of clinical geneticists
indicated that they felt well informed (Haga et al., 2012b). These findings have
important implications for the education of physicians and even geneticists,
who have a critical role to play in pharmacogenomics testing.
Health professionals’ lack of genetics knowledge coupled with the lack of
awareness of both patients and the general public about the benefits of genetic
information (see below), leaves the public confused as to which test might be
beneficial in their own particular case (Patrinos et al., 2013). In a recent survey
of Greek pharmacists, it became evident that pharmacists do not feel suffi-
ciently competent to explain the results of pharmacogenomic tests to their cli-
ents (Mai et al., 2014), further highlighting the need for pharmacists to receive
some basic training about the genetic tests that they sell in their practices.

In order to tackle their self-declared lack of appropriate genomics education,
health care professionals must be encouraged (or even obliged by their respec-
tive professional bodies) to pursue continuous genetics education, possibly
provided in the form of accredited seminars organized by local universities
and/or international organizations. Such continuous genetics education would
be very important for those healthcare professionals who did not acquire the
necessary level of genetics expertise during their undergraduate studies.
At the same time, participation in, often continuous medical education
(CME)-accredited, genetics/genomics conferences would also contribute