Genetic Inheritance for the Pregnancy Pathway: A Practical Guide for Clinicians

Discover different types of genetic inheritance and understand genomic testing

Genomics is an ever-developing area of healthcare, and genetic tests are being mainstreamed, becoming more accessible than ever before. That’s why it’s important for professionals providing primary and secondary care to understand genetic inheritance so they can provide appropriate quality of care to their patients.

On this two-week course, you’ll learn about the different types of genetic inheritance, delving deeper into Mendelian inheritance and its potential deviations. There will be a focus on genomics in the pregnancy pathway, providing a practical guide for midwives and other practitioners delivering maternity care.

Develop practical skills for taking patient history and drawing pedigrees

An important part of recognising inherited disorders is in taking family histories and drawing family trees. You’ll learn key principles for taking family and patient history, then use those skills to gain practical experience in drawing pedigrees.

Recognise genomic conditions in prenatal and antenatal development

Using case examples, you’ll look at how you can improve care pathways and referrals, specifically throughout pregnancy care. You’ll also have the opportunity to discuss current ethical issues in genetic testing, such as the ethical implications of offering genetic testing, and how genetic testing could be mainstreamed into maternity services.

Learn from experts in the field of genomics

With clinicians at the forefront of providing clinical genomic services, The South East Genomic Medicines Service Alliance (GMSA) has specialist expertise and understanding in genomics, in particular workforce training and education.

This course is primarily designed for midwives. It may also be of interest to those involved in the pregnancy pathway such as primary care physicians, nurses, and health visitors, as well as medical and healthcare undergraduates.

While the course will generally assume knowledge appropriate to healthcare professionals, anyone interested in assessing their own family genetic history may find the course useful.

• The principles of genetic inheritance in healthcare
• Welcome to the course
• Patterns of inheritance Part 1
• Patterns of inheritance Part 2
• Summary of the week
• The practicalities of taking a family history and recognising deviations
• The principles of pedigree drawing
• Additional considerations to genetic inheritance and testing
• Standardising care
• Summary