The Pros And Cons Of Genetic Testing

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The healthcare industry has come a long way in terms of technological advances. These advances have had significant benefits in diagnosis, treatment, and the way medicine is practiced today. Unfortunately, these technological advances also come with ethical issues and dilemmas the healthcare professionals must face. Genetic testing is an area that has had significant advancement over the past few years. Genetic testing can provide important information regarding diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of illness or disease (Mayo Clinic, 2015). There has been progress recently with genetic testing within oncology and it has become an accepted standard of oncologic care (Robson, Storm, Weitzel, Wollins, & Offit, 2010 February 10). While genetic testing can provide valuable information, many of the tests are not regulated. This means that the tests go to market without an independent analysis of the validity (National Human Genome Research Institute, 2015). Genetic test kits are readily available on the internet for home testing. However, the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Centers …show more content…

These patients are desperate and are vulnerable, often consenting to research studies without fully understanding the potential outcome. Therefore, it is imperative to educate the patients, public, and regulatory agencies regarding the pros and cons of these therapies. Tan & Payton (2010) describe the electronic health record (EHR), which dates back to the 1950s. These computer-based patient records have evolved into complex systems with many capabilities. They were designed to provide healthcare professionals with a comprehensive picture of a patient’s health status at any time and are meant to automate and streamline the workflow of the healthcare professional (Tan & Payton,

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