Brief Summary
Management of chronic illnesses in the United States consumes 75% of every dollar spent. Chronic illnesses require registered nurses to work alongside physician assistants and nurse practitioners in a bid to serve more individuals and improve their condition (Coleman, 2014). Notably, genetic nursing is vital in providing care to patients suffering from genetic disorders namely complex disorders and single gene disorders.
Nurse’s Role in Providing Care the Overarching Theme of Advocacy
It has become mandatory for nursing practice to be combined with proper understanding of the way genomics is brought about by heritability, and its intersection with environment. Genetic literacy is needed for nurses, in order to offer the best care. As it stands, nursing interventions will only attain any scientific merit by translating the genetic knowledge to the practice (Mehrian-Shai & Reichardt, 2015). When designing the type of care to administer to their patients, it is expected that registered nurses (RN), will utilize the genetic technology and information.
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As this subtopic reveals, studying genetics and genomic has become mandatory in all healthcare areas, diagnosis, genetic testing, genetic therapies and risk assessment. Besides the knowledge of genetics, nurses are expected to comprehend issues likely to affect families and individuals (Coleman, 2014). By understanding the wider issues associated with genomic healthcare, nurses will manage to offer patients with true advocacy. In other words, they will assist the family and the patient in understanding test results, and information regarding genetic diagnosis.
Ethical Implications With Regard To Genetics and Genomics for Nursing Practice
Notably, by adapting to the changes needed in handling patients suffering from chronic genetics illnesses, nurses should be aware of the ethical implications associated with it. The ethical implications associated with genetic and genomic nursing practices regards privacy of data. Healthcare has a wide range of privacy rules (Shaw, 2014). Genetics is a bit different because it involves not only the patient, but also the family. The family of the patient, which includes children, siblings and parents associated with the genomic, and is central to their identity. The genetic information of the patient can end up changing various perspectives of their lives. In that sense, the nurses are expected to observe the ethical principles of confidentiality and privacy (Coleman, 2014).
References
Coleman, B. et al. (2014). Multi-Ethnic Minority Nurses’ Knowledge and Practice of Genetics and Genomics. Journal of Nursing Scholarship , 46:4, 235–244
Mehrian-Shai, R., & Reichardt, J. K. (2015). Genomics is changing personal healthcare and medicine: the dawn of iPH (individualized preventive healthcare). Human Genomics 9:29
Shaw, R. J. (2014). Effects of Nurse-Managed Protocols in the Outpatient Management of Adults with Chronic Conditions. Ann Intern Med. 161:113-121.
