Reflection
Fall semester of 2012, I took the Genomic Testing and Family Health History honors seminar to learn more about the issues associated with direct to consumer genetic testing. There are many major unresolved problems with the marketing of genetic tests that I uncovered as a result of my participation in this class, that I had never even heard about. A simple search online of direct to consumer genetic tests will yield an extensive list of results expressing concern over the problems and controversies this field of medicine is tied to.
The seminar is held in a typical classroom setting, however the location is in the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center building S, which is right in the middle of labs and fantastic research areas. The class focused most of all on providing the students with as much information on the various topics, through presentations and Powerpoints, so that later everyone can form their own opinions of the issues and have enough knowledge to support their stance. We hosted a couple guest speakers from different areas in the field of genomics that presented us with their personal experience with genetic testing.
This seminar proved to be a very valuable learning experience because not only was I introduced to an entirely new area of medicine that I had very little knowledge of, but I also came away with a solid stance on how genetic testing should be interpreted by consumers, companies, physicians, and the general public. I can now understand how genetic testing can be so simple to administer and yet so incredibly complicated when trying to deal with the results and consequences of research, such as that of genomics, that is not yet fully developed.
As a future nurse, I believe that this seminar could help me counsel potential genetic testing consumers to take the correct steps to ensure they don't come away with false results or psychological harm from being unprepared to deal with test results. Should I ever feel inclined to take any genetic tests, I will be better able to understand how to be properly informed about the accuracy of the tests and how to protect my genetic information.
The artifact that I have chosen to include to represent my learning from the Genomics seminar, is a research paper I wrote investigating genetic testing for Parkinsons' Disease at one of the most accepted direct to consumer genetic testing company named 23andMe. With this assignment I was able to form my own conclusions on what I would do should the opportunity to have a genetic test performed on myself arise as a result of existing family history of Parkinsons' Disease. This was a big project because it incorporates all of the aspects consumers must consider when having genetic testing done and without the proper research, the consequences could be devastating. This project helped me establish my position on genetic testing that I believe I will continue to support until further changes to the field of genetic testing are made.
The seminar is held in a typical classroom setting, however the location is in the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center building S, which is right in the middle of labs and fantastic research areas. The class focused most of all on providing the students with as much information on the various topics, through presentations and Powerpoints, so that later everyone can form their own opinions of the issues and have enough knowledge to support their stance. We hosted a couple guest speakers from different areas in the field of genomics that presented us with their personal experience with genetic testing.
This seminar proved to be a very valuable learning experience because not only was I introduced to an entirely new area of medicine that I had very little knowledge of, but I also came away with a solid stance on how genetic testing should be interpreted by consumers, companies, physicians, and the general public. I can now understand how genetic testing can be so simple to administer and yet so incredibly complicated when trying to deal with the results and consequences of research, such as that of genomics, that is not yet fully developed.
As a future nurse, I believe that this seminar could help me counsel potential genetic testing consumers to take the correct steps to ensure they don't come away with false results or psychological harm from being unprepared to deal with test results. Should I ever feel inclined to take any genetic tests, I will be better able to understand how to be properly informed about the accuracy of the tests and how to protect my genetic information.
The artifact that I have chosen to include to represent my learning from the Genomics seminar, is a research paper I wrote investigating genetic testing for Parkinsons' Disease at one of the most accepted direct to consumer genetic testing company named 23andMe. With this assignment I was able to form my own conclusions on what I would do should the opportunity to have a genetic test performed on myself arise as a result of existing family history of Parkinsons' Disease. This was a big project because it incorporates all of the aspects consumers must consider when having genetic testing done and without the proper research, the consequences could be devastating. This project helped me establish my position on genetic testing that I believe I will continue to support until further changes to the field of genetic testing are made.
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