44 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Gatekeepers or Intermediaries? The Role of Clinicians in Commercial Genomic Testing
BACKGROUND: Many commentators on ‘‘direct-to-consumer’’ genetic risk information have raised concerns that giving results to individuals with insufficient knowledge and training in genomics may harm consumers, the health care system, and society. In response, several commercial laboratories offering genomic risk profiling have shifted to more traditional ‘‘direct-to-provider’’ (DTP) marketing strategies, repositioning clinicians as the intended recipients of advertising of laboratory services and as gatekeepers to personal genomic information. Increasing popularity of next generation sequencing puts a premium on ensuring that those who are charged with interpreting, translating, communicating and managing commercial genomic risk information are appropriately equipped for the job. To shed light on their gatekeeping role, we conducted a study to assess how and why early clinical users of genomic risk assessment incorporate these tools in their clinical practices and how they interpret genomic information for their patients.
METHODS and FINDINGS: We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with 18 clinicians providing genomic risk assessment services to their patients in partnership with DNA Direct and Navigenics. Our findings suggest that clinicians learned most of what they knew about genomics directly from the commercial laboratories. Clinicians rely on the expertise of the commercial laboratories without the ability to critically evaluate the knowledge or assess risks.
CONCLUSIONS: DTP service delivery model cannot guarantee that providers will have adequate expertise or sound clinical judgment. Even if clinicians want greater genomic knowledge, the current market structure is unlikely to build the independent substantive expertise of clinicians, but rather promote its continued outsourcing. Because commercial laboratories have the most ‘‘skin in the game’’ financially, genetics professionals and policymakers should scrutinize the scientific validity and clinical soundness of the process by which these laboratories interpret their findings to assess whether self-interested commercial sources are the most appropriate entities for gate-keeping genomic interpretation
Understanding the effects of Covid-19 through a life course lens
The Covid-19 pandemic is shaking fundamental assumptions about the human life course in societies around the
world. In this essay, we draw on our collective expertise to illustrate how a life course perspective can make
critical contributions to understanding the pandemic’s effects on individuals, families, and populations. We
explore the pandemic’s implications for the organization and experience of life transitions and trajectories within
and across central domains: health, personal control and planning, social relationships and family, education,
work and careers, and migration and mobility. We consider both the life course implications of being infected by
the Covid-19 virus or attached to someone who has; and being affected by the pandemic’s social, economic,
cultural, and psychological consequences. It is our goal to offer some programmatic observations on which life
course research and policies can build as the pandemic’s short- and long-term consequences unfold
Societal-level versus individual-level predictions of ethical behavior: a 48-society study of collectivism and individualism
Is the societal-level of analysis sufficient today to understand the values of those in the global workforce? Or are individual-level analyses more appropriate for assessing the influence of values on ethical behaviors across country workforces? Using multi-level analyses for a 48-society sample, we test the utility of both the societal-level and individual-level dimensions of collectivism and individualism values for predicting ethical behaviors of business professionals. Our values-based behavioral analysis indicates that values at the individual-level make a more significant contribution to explaining variance in ethical behaviors than do values at the societal-level. Implicitly, our findings question the soundness of using societal-level values measures. Implications for international business research are discussed
Catering to the Needs of an Aging Workforce: The Role of Employee Age in the Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Satisfaction
Rosanna Hertz, Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice: How Women are Choosing Parenthood Without Marriage and Creating the New American Family
Recommended from our members
SetterstenRichardPHHSGatekeepersIntermediaries.pdf
BACKGROUND: Many commentators on ‘‘direct-to-consumer’’ genetic risk information have raised concerns that giving results
to individuals with insufficient knowledge and training in genomics may harm consumers, the health care system, and
society. In response, several commercial laboratories offering genomic risk profiling have shifted to more traditional ‘‘direct-to-provider’’ (DTP) marketing strategies, repositioning clinicians as the intended recipients of advertising of laboratory
services and as gatekeepers to personal genomic information. Increasing popularity of next generation sequencing puts a
premium on ensuring that those who are charged with interpreting, translating, communicating and managing commercial
genomic risk information are appropriately equipped for the job. To shed light on their gatekeeping role, we conducted a
study to assess how and why early clinical users of genomic risk assessment incorporate these tools in their clinical practices
and how they interpret genomic information for their patients.
METHODS and FINDINGS: We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with 18 clinicians providing genomic risk assessment
services to their patients in partnership with DNA Direct and Navigenics. Our findings suggest that clinicians learned most of
what they knew about genomics directly from the commercial laboratories. Clinicians rely on the expertise of the
commercial laboratories without the ability to critically evaluate the knowledge or assess risks.
CONCLUSIONS: DTP service delivery model cannot guarantee that providers will have adequate expertise or sound clinical
judgment. Even if clinicians want greater genomic knowledge, the current market structure is unlikely to build the
independent substantive expertise of clinicians, but rather promote its continued outsourcing. Because commercial
laboratories have the most ‘‘skin in the game’’ financially, genetics professionals and policymakers should scrutinize the
scientific validity and clinical soundness of the process by which these laboratories interpret their findings to assess whether
self-interested commercial sources are the most appropriate entities for gate-keeping genomic interpretation
Recommended from our members
SetterstenRichardPHHSGatekeepersIntermediaries_AppendixS1.pdf
BACKGROUND: Many commentators on ‘‘direct-to-consumer’’ genetic risk information have raised concerns that giving results
to individuals with insufficient knowledge and training in genomics may harm consumers, the health care system, and
society. In response, several commercial laboratories offering genomic risk profiling have shifted to more traditional ‘‘direct-to-provider’’ (DTP) marketing strategies, repositioning clinicians as the intended recipients of advertising of laboratory
services and as gatekeepers to personal genomic information. Increasing popularity of next generation sequencing puts a
premium on ensuring that those who are charged with interpreting, translating, communicating and managing commercial
genomic risk information are appropriately equipped for the job. To shed light on their gatekeeping role, we conducted a
study to assess how and why early clinical users of genomic risk assessment incorporate these tools in their clinical practices
and how they interpret genomic information for their patients.
METHODS and FINDINGS: We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with 18 clinicians providing genomic risk assessment
services to their patients in partnership with DNA Direct and Navigenics. Our findings suggest that clinicians learned most of
what they knew about genomics directly from the commercial laboratories. Clinicians rely on the expertise of the
commercial laboratories without the ability to critically evaluate the knowledge or assess risks.
CONCLUSIONS: DTP service delivery model cannot guarantee that providers will have adequate expertise or sound clinical
judgment. Even if clinicians want greater genomic knowledge, the current market structure is unlikely to build the
independent substantive expertise of clinicians, but rather promote its continued outsourcing. Because commercial
laboratories have the most ‘‘skin in the game’’ financially, genetics professionals and policymakers should scrutinize the
scientific validity and clinical soundness of the process by which these laboratories interpret their findings to assess whether
self-interested commercial sources are the most appropriate entities for gate-keeping genomic interpretation
Recommended from our members
SetterstenRichardPHHSGatekeepersIntermediaries_AppendixS1Information.pdf
BACKGROUND: Many commentators on ‘‘direct-to-consumer’’ genetic risk information have raised concerns that giving results
to individuals with insufficient knowledge and training in genomics may harm consumers, the health care system, and
society. In response, several commercial laboratories offering genomic risk profiling have shifted to more traditional ‘‘direct-to-provider’’ (DTP) marketing strategies, repositioning clinicians as the intended recipients of advertising of laboratory
services and as gatekeepers to personal genomic information. Increasing popularity of next generation sequencing puts a
premium on ensuring that those who are charged with interpreting, translating, communicating and managing commercial
genomic risk information are appropriately equipped for the job. To shed light on their gatekeeping role, we conducted a
study to assess how and why early clinical users of genomic risk assessment incorporate these tools in their clinical practices
and how they interpret genomic information for their patients.
METHODS and FINDINGS: We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with 18 clinicians providing genomic risk assessment
services to their patients in partnership with DNA Direct and Navigenics. Our findings suggest that clinicians learned most of
what they knew about genomics directly from the commercial laboratories. Clinicians rely on the expertise of the
commercial laboratories without the ability to critically evaluate the knowledge or assess risks.
CONCLUSIONS: DTP service delivery model cannot guarantee that providers will have adequate expertise or sound clinical
judgment. Even if clinicians want greater genomic knowledge, the current market structure is unlikely to build the
independent substantive expertise of clinicians, but rather promote its continued outsourcing. Because commercial
laboratories have the most ‘‘skin in the game’’ financially, genetics professionals and policymakers should scrutinize the
scientific validity and clinical soundness of the process by which these laboratories interpret their findings to assess whether
self-interested commercial sources are the most appropriate entities for gate-keeping genomic interpretation