How genomic information is accessed in clinical practice: an electronic survey of UK general practitioners

R. H. Evans, William; Tranter, Jennifer; Rafi, Imran; Hayward, Judith; Qureshi, N.

Abstract

Genomic technologies are having an increasing impact across medicine, including primary care. To enable their wider adoption and realise their potential, education of primary healthcare practitioners will be required. To enable the development of such resources, understanding where GPs currently access Genomic information is
needed.

Method: 159 UK GPs completed the survey in response to an open invitation, between September 2017 and September 2018. Questions were in response to 4 clinical genomic scenarios, with further questions exploring resources used for rare disease patients, direct to consumer genetic testing and collecting a family history.

Results: Respondents were most commonly GP principals (independent GPs who own their clinic) (64.8%), aged 35-49 years (54%), worked as a GP for more than 15 years (44%), and practiced within suburban locations (typically wealthier) (50.3%).

The most popular ”just in time” education source for all clinical genomic scenarios were online primary care focussed resources with general Internet search engines also popular. For genomic continuous medical education over 70% of respondents preferred online learning.

Considering specific scenarios: local guidelines were a popular resource for the familial breast cancer scenario. A large proportion (41%) had not heard of Genomics England’s 100,000-genome project. Few respondents (4%) would access rare disease specific internet resources (Orphanet, OMIM). 25% of respondents were unsure how
to respond to a direct to consumer commercial genetic test query, with 41% forwarding such queries to local genetic services.

Conclusion: GPs require concise, relevant, primary care focussed resources in trusted and familiar online repositories of information. Inadequate genetic education of GPs could increase burden on local genetic services.

Citation

R. H. Evans, W., Tranter, J., Rafi, I., Hayward, J., & Qureshi, N. (2020). How genomic information is accessed in clinical practice: an electronic survey of UK general practitioners. Journal of Community Genetics, 11(3), 377–386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-020-00457-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 13, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Mar 3, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-07
• Deposit Date: Feb 18, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 4, 2021
• Journal: Journal of Community Genetics
• Print ISSN: 1868-310X
• Electronic ISSN: 1868-6001
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 377–386
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-020-00457-5
• Keywords: Genetics(clinical); Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; Epidemiology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3985294
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12687-020-00457-5
• Additional Information: Received: 23 October 2019; Accepted: 13 February 2020; First Online: 3 March 2020; : All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.; : This study was approved by the local ethics committee: UoN FMHS REC ref. no E10022017.; : WRH Evans declares that he has no conflict of interest. WRH Evans has received honorarium as a speaker and advisor to Intrabio and Mendelian.N Qureshi declares that he has no conflict of interest. N Qureshi has received previous lecture honorarium from AMGEN.J Tranter declares that she has no conflict of interest.I Rafi is the RCGP and AoRMC joint clinical champion for genomics.J Hayward is an advisor to HEE GEP and the RCGP and AoRMC joint clinical champion for genomics.