Preparing genomic revolution: Attitudes, clinical practice, and training needs in delivering genetic counseling in primary care in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Purpose The aim was to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice concerning medical genetics, genetic testing, and counseling among primary care physicians (PCPs) in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. Methods The University of Hong Kong (HKU), HKU‐Shenzhen Hospital, and Shenzhen Health Capacity Building and Continuing Education Center invited PCPs from Hong Kong and Shenzhen to participate in an online survey. Results The survey was completed by 151 PCPs and 258 PCPs from Hong Kong and Shenzhen, respectively. The majority agreed it was important to keep current with genetics (91%) and that personalized medicine was the future of healthcare (86%), yet only 10% reported that they had postgraduate training in genomic medicine. Seventeen percent of Hong Kong and 40% of Shenzhen's PCPs encountered genetic‐related cases in the past 6 months, and they identified insufficient knowledge, few training opportunities, and self‐rated low confidence in their skillsets as main barriers. Conclusions Our survey shows that Hong Kong and Shenzhen's PCPs are not yet fully utilizing potential benefits of genomic medicine in their clinical practice, which could be addressed with a combination of easily accessible educational resources, clear referral pathways and guidelines on genetic diseases, and cross‐specialty collaboration between healthcare systems and professional bodies.

Keywords

• China
• education
• genetic testing
• genomics
• primary healthcare