The Positive Effects of Providing Patients with Information on Their Genetic Predisposition - Essay Example

?The positive effects of providing patients with information on their genetic predisposition to diseases The objective of this report is to discuss the positive effects of making patients, both urban and rural aware of their genetic predisposition to diseases. The audience of this report is the Australian Minister for Health and Ageing, Hon Nicola Roxon MP. The findings of this report are that it is advisable for the government to provide the hospitals with more resources to help them not only make them patients aware of their genetic predisposition to diseases but also take proactive measures to reduce their susceptibility to diseases. Following recommendations were made based on research: Recommendation 1: Increased funds are required to further the research and implementation of treatments for genetic diseases. If they are provided with sufficient funds, hospitals and health care centers will be better able to offer treatment for the genetic diseases. Recommendation 2: Tertiary schools and medical colleges should be given incentives to include genetics in the curriculum and develop the awareness of the advantages of predisposition to genetic diseases in the students. Recommendation 3: Develops an educational campaign to make people aware of the uses of treatment before diagnosis of disease. This will generate an incentive for the people to seek treatment. Recommendation 4: Reforms are required to release funds for genetic research. Recommendation 5: An official campaign needs to be launched on national level to promote investigation of genetic diseases in the rural areas. Recommendation 6: Laws should be formed in order to enhance the safety and maintenance of secrecy of the patients’ predisposition to genetic diseases. Contents 1.0 Introduction 04 1.1 Purpose and audience 04 1.2 Scope 04 1.3 Background 05 2.0 Study of Genetics 05 2.1 International developments 05-07 2.2 Study of genetics in the United States 07 2.3 Study of genetics in the UK 08 3.0 Impact of the study of genetics on health care 08 3.1 Advantages of raising public awareness about genetic predisposition 08-10 to diseases 3.2 Responsibilities of the governments for helping the physicians in 10-11 investigating genetic diseases 4.0 Conclusion 11 5.0 References 12 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Purpose and audience Study of genetics has played an important role in the transformation of the Australian health care industry for the better. Study of genetics has enabled patients to take care of their health based on their knowledge of the genetic traits. This report discusses the historic effect of the study of genetic predisposition to diseases and ways to increase its positive effects and decrease the negative outcomes for the Australian people. The information will specially be conveyed to the Australian Minister for Health and Ageing, Hon Nicola Roxon MP. The paper will compile results of the past research about the area-wise division of the genetic study and its clinical implications. The paper tends to draw implications for future based on the past research and trends in different countries of the world. The paper will particularly find the extent to which genetic research and practice prevails in Australia and ways to further both of them. 1.2 Scope There has occurred a lot of technological advancement since the onset of the 21st century. The word “genetics” is used to refer to the study and effects of single genes. Genomics, on the other hand refers to the study of the way different genes interact with each other as well as with such environmental factors as nutrition and medication (Engstrom et al. 2005). The scope of this research report is limited to the exploration of positive and negative effects of making the people aware of their genetic predisposition to diseases. The information will be particularly useful for the healthcare minister of Australia in making informed decision for making laws and providing resources for the hospitals to do genetic tests within the limits imposed by laws. 1.3 Background The Human Genome Project did a lot to promote the technological development for determining such genetic mutations that cause the diseases to occur. As of now, it is possible to identify above 1000 different kinds of diseases through genetic testing while more research is in progress to increase this number (Engstrom et al. 2005). These technologies are used to determine the diseases before the symptoms show up and the goal of the medical professionals is to prevent the probable occurrence of grave pathological disorders through pro-active measures taken just in time. Applying the genetic knowledge in all fields of medicine is increasingly important because upon completion of the human genome sequence, large amounts of information have been gathered which imply that nearly every chronic clinical disorder has a genetic predisposition and therefore, describing genetic competencies should be considered very important by all health care professionals while making special arrangements to facilitate this action. Explaining the genetic issues and complexities associated with different diseases seen in clinical practice should be made a topnotch priority by the physicians around the globe by focusing on necessarily obtaining a multigenerational genetic family history. The rate of probability of potential heritable clinical disorders can be easily assessed if the physicians start relying on getting a proper and comprehensive history of the patient which can also contribute significantly in selecting proper medications for the patient according to his/her genetic makeup. 2.0 Study of Genetics 2.1. International developments In an order to perceive the way by which genetics is actually portrayed in clinical practice and the role it plays in leading the human population towards the doorstep of diseases, an in-depth literature analysis has been done many times by expert researchers and clinicians (Cunningham-Burley & Amos 1999). Many articles published in peer-reviewed journals have succeeded in throwing enough light on the developments made in genetic science and its role in causing certain diseases like diabetes mellitus, in which the role of genetic predisposition is undeniable and inevitable (Miller, Ahern, Smith, and Harvey 2005). Assessing the genetic or hereditary involvement is highly critical because the stage at which a particular clinical abnormality is treated holds utmost importance. If it is an early stage when the disease is detected, proper treatment plan can be designed and the solution can be approached in more professional and desired manner, while if a patient being irresponsible enough comes to the physician at a very late stage, treatment is made more difficult and even impossible at most times. Raising awareness among the human population about the chances of their possible genetics predisposition to clinical diseases is all bout putting a stop to the late detection of serious and complicated diseases because getting more and more persons gain knowledge about their hereditary clinical implications can help in reducing the occurrence of many diseases in the first place and also at a very large scale. That is the sole reason why this issue has been so comprehensively examined and analyzed by the research analysts around the globe. Laying stress on the benefits of international developments made in the field of human genetics, (Willard 2004) has mentioned that genomic medicine has helped the mankind hugely by providing a comprehensive insight into the nature and prevalence of clinical disorders with genetic predisposition like obesity. The issue of obesity is huge presently and many people are facing problems because of this disorder which has massive hereditary background in most cases when histories of the patients are analyzed by the physicians. International developments made in the field of genetics has immensely helped the doctors in detecting the and measuring the probability of disease occurrence even before the symptoms reveal themselves due to which the chances of a certain disease reaching a terminal phase are easily controlled and reduced. It is a fact that without the international developments made in genetics, prevalence of many disastrous diseases could never have been restricted and suppressed by the clinical physicians and genetic scientists. 2.2 Study of genetics in the United States The study of genetics has been continuous in US for the past many years and significant results have been produced by the research scientists which have proved to be highly beneficial for raising awareness about genetic predisposition to diseases among the humans who are found to be at high risk incidence. Scientists and physicians in US have taken great efforts to focus on the genetic histories of those humans who came to the hospitals with complains of obesity or diabetes mellitus and noticed their lifestyles and their close family relatives’ life patterns as well. With this analysis, the role played by genetics in producing symptoms of a certain hereditary disease has been largely confirmed. Genomic medicine, which is the branch of human genetics concerned with certain pathological disorders, is an area in US presently that is being explored by the scientists at a large scale. Acquiring access over the entire human genome is considered increasingly important concerning the rate with which certain disorders have prevailed in particular societies which are more on the side of a sedentary lifestyle. According to a research study done in America by (Epstein 2006), it is mentioned that “the prospect of examining a person’s entire genome (or at least a large fraction of it) in order to make individualized risk predictions and treatment decisions is a tantalizing one” (Willard, cited in Epstein 2006). 2.3 Study of genetics in the UK It is a reality that researchers and physicians have played a major role through their efforts in shaping the entire human attitudes towards the latest developments made in human technology which implies that more and more humans can be influenced to seek medical advice for knowing about their genetic predisposition to harmful diseases. Likewise, scientists and researchers in UK also have been busy for the past many years for enhancing the human genetics to the point that diseases could be detected very, in fact so early that even the earliest symptoms could not make themselves obvious in the patient yet. A highly important and worth mentioning advantage linked with raising awareness among humans about seeking advice for checking the risk incidence of their individual genetic predisposition to the diseases is that this way, those persons who definitely have some genetic predisposition could be forced or willingly induced to adopt a healthy lifestyle and give up many activities of a sedentary lifestyle which lead to obesity, which is a dramatic emergency in the developed countries presently. Therefore, the scientists in UK became forced to develop human genetics concerning the widespread disaster produced by obesity in the recent years. According to UK research studies, huge advancements in human genetics are expected and “editorialists argue that molecular genetic research has progressed rapidly, that future developments will continue apace, and that these developments will provide extensive new knowledge” (Miller et al. 2006, 2376). 3.0 Impact of the study of genetics on health care 3.1 Advantages of raising public awareness about genetic predisposition to diseases This remains a fact that if more people are started to be informed by their physicians about the issue of their genetic predisposition to certain diseases, less clinical emergencies can happen and more lives can be saved quite easily because telling a person about his/her individual genetic predisposition heavily interferes with that person’s willingness to adopt a particular living style. The impact of genetics on health care is also important and hard to ignore because this has helped in revealing the structure of the human genome, which would have been impossible without advancements made in genetics and which also lays the foundation for the field of genomic medicine. Many people sadly still do not know in detail about the link between an unhealthy or sedentary lifestyle and a hereditary disease like obesity. This unfamiliarity with the background and genetic predisposition when it comes to obesity becomes even stronger when the public living in the rural areas is discussed. Exercise and proper diet can alone help a person in fighting much complex clinical disorders at times and this is s fact. According to (Iron Magazine 2011), it is possible and in control of the humans to smoothly reduce the incidence of genetic predisposition to a clinical problem like obesity by more than 40% if increased physical activity and healthy low-calorie diet are made and considered important parts of one’s life. Genetic researchers have also introduced some genetic markers for identifying the link between them and diabetes which is more than often found to be genetically predisposed disease. The root cause of insulin dependent diabetes, ? cell destruction, occurs in genetically susceptible individuals and triggered by other factors like obesity. Much research has been done on explaining the genetic susceptibility of insulin dependent diabetes and the role of genes in causing this disease. Development of obesity and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (Mandrup-Poulsen 1998). 3.2 Responsibilities of the governments for helping the physicians in investigating genetic diseases The responsibility and the important role that should be played by the governments around the globe in investigating genetic diseases is huge because without the support of the funds from the official authorities, physicians can never get themselves able to collect so much money on their own for investigating major genetic diseases and the rate of their incidence in the rural areas, where people are already found highly reluctant to seek medical advice let alone gathering information about their genetic predisposition to the diseases. “The more the healthcare system focuses on reducing costs, the greater the likelihood that quality of care will be deemphasized, leading to undertreatment” (Robiner 2006, 613). That is the exact reason why many diseases show a higher level of occurrence and probability in rural areas because people there are so badly trapped in financial issues that they never become able to reach hospitals until their disease progresses into a terminal or final or irreversible stage. Actually, ensuring a healthy lifestyle is the primarily important objective in many diseases due to which it should be made a priority by the physicians to form groups and visit more of the backward areas, so that the practice of determining the individuals’ genetic disposition to diseases should not be altogether abandoned. Instead, it should be limited to the cases in which patients show a strong recorded history of diseases transfer from one generation to another. 4.0 Conclusion Summing up, this can be easily deduced from the above discussion presented in the report which is basically addressed to the Australian Government that the Government of Australia should make sure that the right kind of technology and equipment is made available to the physicians so that the basic ingredients required to conduct the analysis remain available in all healthcare centers, no matter they be located in the remote or advanced regions. Clinicians should make it their priority to work in close collaboration with the researchers so that important facts regarding human genetics could be exchanged between them on time and confusions could be stopped from happening and influencing the patients’ treatment in a negative way. It is also important because identification of the factors that serve as catalysts in making a genetic disease actually occur is also critically important, and physicians and researchers should direct their efforts at controlling those factors by making more visits to the rural areas and getting more and more people familiar with their genetic predisposition by efficiently assessing their genetic histories. 5.0 References Cunningham-Burley, S., and A. Kerr. 1999. Defining the ‘social’: Towards an understanding of scientific and medical discourses on the social aspects of the new human genetics. Sociology of Health and Illness 21 (5): 647–668. Engstrom, J.L., M.G.S. Sefton, J.K. Matheson, and K.M. Healy. 2005. “Genetic Competencies Essential for Health Care Professionals in Primary Care.” American College of Nurse-Midwives 50: 177-183. Epstein, C.J. 2006. “Medical Genetics in the Genomic Medicine of the 21st Century.” The American Journal of Human Genetics 79: 434-438. Iron Magazine. 2011. Physical Activity Can Reduce the Genetic Predisposition to Obesity. http://www.ironmagazine.com/blog/2010/physical-activity-can-reduce-the-genetic-predisposition-to-obesity/. (Accessed: October 9, 2011). Mandrup-Poulsen, T. 1998. “Diabetes.” British Medical Journal 316: 1221. Miller, F.A., C. Ahern, C.A. Smith, and E.A. Harvey. 2006. “Understanding the new human genetics: A review of scientific editorials.” Social Science & Medicine 62: 2373-2385. Robiner, W.N. 2006. “The mental health professions: Workforce supply and demand, issues, and challenges.” Clinical Psychology Review 26: 600-625. Read More