Cooksey Judith A, Forte Gaetano, Flanagan Patricia A, Benkendorf Judith, Blitzer Miriam G
Genetics Health Services Research Center, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA.
Genet Med. 2006 Oct;8(10):603-14. doi: 10.1097/01.gim.0000242307.83900.77.
Clinical geneticists with a Doctor of Medicine degree face challenges to meet the growing population demand for genetic services. This study was designed to assist the profession with workforce planning by identifying clinically relevant subgroups of geneticists and describing their professional characteristics and clinical practices. Geneticists' patient care productivity is compared across subgroups and other medical specialists.
Part of a comprehensive national study of genetic services and the health workforce, this study uses data from a 2003 survey of geneticists certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics. This study includes 610 clinical geneticists who spend at least 5% of their time in direct patient-care services. An iterative approach was used to identify five subgroups based on the types of new patients seen. We conducted a descriptive analysis of subgroups by demographic, training, professional, and practice characteristics.
The subgroups include general (36%), pediatric (28%), reproductive (15%), metabolic (14%), and adult (7%) geneticists. Clinically relevant variations across subgroups were noted in training, professional, and practice parameters. Subgroups vary across patient care hours (median, 15-33 hours/week) and total weekly work hours (52-60 hours). New patient visits (mean, 222-900/year) are higher than follow-up patient visits (mean, 155-405) for all subgroups except metabolic geneticists.
Although many geneticists practice as generalist geneticists, this study provides an evidence base for distinguishing clinically relevant subgroups of geneticists. Geneticists provide similar numbers of new patient visits and far fewer follow-up visits than other medical specialists. These findings are relevant to geneticist workforce planning.
拥有医学博士学位的临床遗传学家面临着满足不断增长的人群对遗传服务需求的挑战。本研究旨在通过识别临床相关的遗传学家亚组并描述其专业特征和临床实践，来协助该行业进行劳动力规划。对各亚组以及其他医学专科医生的遗传学家的患者护理生产力进行了比较。
作为一项关于遗传服务和卫生人力的全国性综合研究的一部分，本研究使用了2003年对美国医学遗传学委员会认证的遗传学家进行调查的数据。本研究包括610名临床遗传学家，他们至少将5%的时间用于直接患者护理服务。采用迭代方法根据所诊治的新患者类型识别出五个亚组。我们对各亚组的人口统计学、培训、专业和实践特征进行了描述性分析。
这些亚组包括普通遗传学家（36%）、儿科遗传学家（28%）、生殖遗传学家（15%）、代谢遗传学家（14%）和成人遗传学家（7%）。在培训、专业和实践参数方面，各亚组存在临床相关差异。各亚组的患者护理时长（中位数，每周15 - 33小时）和每周总工作时长（52 - 60小时）各不相同。除代谢遗传学家外，所有亚组的新患者就诊量（平均每年222 - 900次）均高于随访患者就诊量（平均每年155 - 405次）。
尽管许多遗传学家以普通遗传学家的身份执业，但本研究为区分临床相关的遗传学家亚组提供了证据基础。遗传学家的新患者就诊量与其他医学专科医生相似，但随访就诊量则少得多。这些发现与遗传学家劳动力规划相关。
