Juvenile polyposis syndrome (JPS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by juvenile polyps of the gastrointestinal tract. We present a new pathogenic mutation of the SMAD4 gene and illustrate the need for a multidisciplinary health care approach to facilitate the correct diagnosis. The patient, a 47-year-old Caucasian woman, was diagnosed with anaemia at the age of 12. During the following 30 years, she developed numerous gastrointestinal polyps. The patient underwent several operations, and suffered chronic abdominal pain, malnutrition, and multiple infections. Screening of the SMAD4 gene revealed a novel, disease-causing mutation. In 2012, the patient suffered hypoalbuminemia and a large polyp in the small bowel was found. Gamma globulin was given but the patient responded with fever and influenza-like symptoms and refused more treatment. The patient underwent surgery in 2014 and made an uneventful recovery. At follow-up two months later albumin was 38 g/L and IgG was 6.9 g/L. Accurate diagnosis is essential for medical care. For patients with complex symptomatology, often with rare diseases, this is best provided by multidisciplinary teams including representatives from clinical genetics. Patients with a SMAD4 mutation should be followed up both for JPS and haemorrhagic hereditary telangiectasia and may develop protein loosing enteropathy and immunodeficiency.

Detta är en efterlängtad bok på svenska inom området genetisk vägledning, ett snabbt växande fält inom hälsovård och preventiv vård. Ökad kunskap om genetikens påverkan i många vanliga sjukdomar såsom cancer, hjärt–kärlsjukdom och neurologiska tillstånd, men även i många ovanliga tillstånd, ger vården allt större utmaningar att förvalta kunskapen och göra om den till något användbart för patienterna och deras anhöriga.

Det är där, i patientmötet, som den genetiska vägledningen sker som en process. »Genetisk vägledning« beskriver de olika praktiska delarna i den processen. Boken ger tips och förslag och är ett välkommet tillskott till den växande skara av vårdgivare som dagligen, eller ibland, möter patienter och anhöriga med frågor kring ärftlighet och genetisk diagnos. Texten ger en bas som behövs för att förstå syftet och processen bakom genetisk vägledning. Boken beskriver strukturen i den genetiska vägledningen och belyser de viktigaste hållpunkterna i den processen, till exempel med flera kapitel om samtal och samtalskonst och hur vårdgivaren kan förhålla sig till patienters olika upplevelser av risker, kriser och bemötande av känslor. Boken lyfter även fram vikten av familjens roll och behovet av stöd till patienterna, och avslutas med beskrivande förklaringar och bilder av grundläggande genetik och genetiska koncept.

»Genetisk vägledning« ger möjlighet för alla professionella nivåer, från student till mångårigt erfaren vårdgivare, att bygga på sina kunskaper och färdigheter inom genetisk vägledning. Den sammanfattar på ett pedagogiskt, lättillgängligt och okomplicerat sätt de olika praktiska delarna i processen, vilket gör den lätt att ta till sig oavsett professionell bakgrund. Studenter som använt boken i masterprogrammet i genetisk vägledning har lyft fram denna som en av de viktigaste böckerna som gett dem inblick i och förståelse för den profession de snart ska bemästra.

Ulrika Hösterey Ugander avled i december 2020. Boken togs fram av henne och Ulf Kristoffersson, som sedan slutförde arbetet. 

Genetic counselling is increasingly important for investigations into hereditary diseases in the field of clinical genetics. The increase in demand is due to the discovery of more genetically caused diseases, increased complexity and awareness of genetic testing. However, access to genetic counselling is limited worldwide, as in Sweden, and not always offered as needed, because there is a lack of trained professionals, such as genetic counsellors and geneticists. Additionally, genetic counselling is difficult to evaluate as there is no validated quality measure for genetic counselling in Swedish. This work investigates important factors for improving access to and quality of genetic counselling in Sweden.

The studied factors include such as the genetic counsellors, the use and implementation of eHealth technology, and the possibility to evaluate these areas using a valid outcome measure in Swedish. This dissertation consists of four studies. The first is a questionnaire study that found that genetic counsellors in Sweden play an integral role in patient care and access, and provide quality patient support throughout the clinical encounter. However, it also found that there was a lack of trained genetic counsellors and that they were overly burdened with administrative work, such as sample handling, billing and making appointments. This reduced the genetic counsellors’ time spent directly with patients, thus hampering patient access. The second study investigated healthcare professionals’ pre-pandemic perceptions of using a specific eHealth technology providing genetic counselling via video or telephone, termed telegenetic counselling (TGC) throughout this dissertation. Findings showed that TGC was considered appropriate, believed to increase patient access and autonomy, and improve patient care. Yet, the healthcare professionals expressed some reluctance and identified many barriers to using TGC, such as the lack of evidence, and anticipated issues with technology and resources. Nevertheless, taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the third study investigated the feasibility of rapid implementation of TGC in a real, clinical context. Both healthcare professionals and patients found TGC acceptable, useful and satisfactory, and TGC also improved access to genetic counselling during the pandemic. The implementation of TGC proved effective in regards to the overall goal of genetic counselling: increased patient empowerment after genetic counselling. This was measured by the newly adapted patient-reported outcome measure in genetic counselling in Swedish, the GCOS-24swe. The fourth study performed a psychometric evaluation of the GCOS-24swe and showed validity, reliability, and responsiveness of the outcome measure. Therefore, the GCOS-24swe provides a useful clinical quality measure to inform developments in genetic counselling practice, individualised patient care, and evaluation of implementation efforts in Sweden. Finally, a synthesis of these research findings results in a suggested implementation strategy for TGC in the clinical context. In summary, this dissertation identifies ways to improve the access to and measure the quality of genetic counselling in Sweden.

Genetic testing is becoming more commonplace in general and specialist health care and should always be accompanied by genetic counselling, according to Swedish law. Genetic counsellors are members of the multi-disciplinary team providing genetic counselling. This study examined the role and added value of genetic counsellors in Sweden, using a cross-sectional on-line survey. The findings showed that the genetic counsellors added value in the clinical setting by acting as the 'spider-in-the-web' regarding case management, having a more holistic, ethical and psychological perspective, being able to offer continuous support and build a relationship with the patient, and being more accessible than medical geneticists. The main difference between a genetic counsellor and medical geneticist was that the doctor had the main medical responsibility. Thus genetic counsellors in Sweden contribute substantially to the care of patients in the clinical genetic setting.

This study reports the process and preliminary findings of rapid implementation oftelegenetic counseling in the context of Swedish healthcare and COVID-19 pandemic,from both a patient and a provider perspective. Fourty-nine patients and 6 healthcareprofessionals were included in this feasibility study of telegenetic counseling in aregional Department of Clinical Genetics in Sweden. Telegenetic counseling is heredefined as providing genetic counseling to patients by video (n =30) or telephone (n= 19) appointments. Four specific feasibility aspects were considered: acceptability,demand, implementation, and preliminary efficacy. Several measures were used includingthe Genetic Counseling Outcome Scale 24 (collected pre- and post-counseling); theTelehealth Usability Questionnaire; a short study specific evaluation and Visiba Careevaluations, all collected post-counseling. The measures were analyzed with descriptivestatistics and the preliminary results show a high level of acceptance and demand, fromboth patients and providers. Results also indicate successful initial implementation in theregional Department of Clinical Genetics and preliminary efficacy, as shown by significantclinically important improvement in patients’ empowerment levels.

There is no Masters level education for genetic counseling in Sweden, meaning that genetic counselor professionals have very different backgrounds. Hence, there is a need to harmonize the quality of genetic counseling and introduce standards for practice. The Swedish Society for Genetic Counselors and the Swedish Society of Medical Genetics and Genomics collaborated to determine professional requirements and a career pathway, defining three vocational levels within the genetic counselor profession. We report here an individual educational pathway leading up to eligibility for certification as a genetic counselor in Sweden.

Nurses and midwives need to develop specific knowledge and skills in genetics to enable them to offer appropriate healthcare in a range of non-specialist settings. Studies on the topic indicate that while nurses acknowledged the importance of genetics knowledge to their work, both their knowledge and confidence in using such information are poor. Despite the existence of competence frameworks, it appears that educators have struggled with the need to integrate genetics into nursing and midwifery curricula. An expert workshop on genetics education was held to determine the essential components of genetics knowledge and skills that should be incorporated into the pre-registration nursing curriculum in European countries. In this paper we present the essential topics for nurse and midwife pre-registration education and suggest ways in which genetics might be incorporated into the nursing and midwifery curriculum. © Springer-Verlag 2012.