Essay Sample: Significance of Genetic Screening and Counseling During Pregnancy

Introduction

Genetic Screening and Genetic Counseling during Pregnancy is vital in ensuring the health of pregnant women and women. The genetic screening is usually done before the pregnancy or during the pregnancy. The prenatal genetic screening tests aim at looking at the blood of the pregnant woman. It is from the blood tests that findings of ultrasound examinations that the health care providers can screen the unborn for aneuploidy, which includes some defects of the heart, abdomen, and facial characteristics as well as some defects of the brain and the spine (Van den Veyver, 2016). The prenatal screening, therefore, establishes the risk that the baby may experience before it is even born. They should know the information during the pregnancy rather than know it after giving birth as this gives them time to plan and make informed decisions.

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After the genetic screening, there is a need for genetic counseling for pregnant women, especially if the baby is found to have a birth defect or any genetic condition. If the pregnant woman is found with such a defect, she is referred to the prenatal genetic counselor, who helps the woman to understand the genetic condition and other important medical information, what the woman should expect, how to prepare to take care of the baby after birth and even suggest any other options available.

Both Genetic Screening and Genetic Counseling during Pregnancy are important to nursing because it is through them that genetic conditions and problems can be identified, and women assisted in making informed decisions about their pregnancy. Genetic screening helps the nurses to understand the genetic issues that the unborn baby may experience. It is through genetic screening that nursing professionals interpret the results for the women and helps them in making decisions about their pregnancy and how to best care for the child when born (Kuznyetsov et al., 2018). Therefore, genetic screening and genetic counseling are essential for pregnant mothers, nursing professionals, and their children as they give the direction of what to expect and make decisions on what should be done to give the born baby the best life even with the genetic condition.

Peer-reviewed Articles

Article 1: Recent advances in prenatal genetic screening and testing

The article aimed at recent advances in prenatal genetic screening and testing. There have been problems of children born with genetic conditions, and that is why there has been a need for genetic screening. Over time, the prevalence of the genetic condition has continued to increase, and that is why there has been increased genetic testing (Van den Veyver, 2016). There has also been the introduction of carrier screening, single-gene disorders, and DNA screening have also been introduced. The barriers to the issue are that genetic screening and counseling have become increasingly complex.

Article 2: The implications of noninvasive prenatal testing failures: a review of an underdiscussed phenomenon.

The article purposed to examine the implications of non-invasive prenatal testing failures. The issue originated from the use of defective testing equipment. More genetic screening equipment has been introduced, but not all the equipment has been effective in testing genetic conditions during pregnancy (Kuznyetsov et al., 2018). This has led to negative implications and making wrong conclusions. The barrier to non-invasive prenatal testing has been the emergence of NIPT technology which has had a high failure rate, and this increases the false-positive results, which result in loss of pregnancy.

Article 3: Ancestry Testing and the Practice of Genetic Counseling

This article sought to examine ancestry testing and the practice of genetic testing. Ancestry testing has originated from people inheriting undesirable conditions that increase the chances of genetic complications. Ethnicity and race have been two conditions that have led to the development of ancestry testing and screening (Kirkpatrick & Rashkin, 2017). Over time, ancestry testing has increased, specifically due to increased ethnicities and races living in different countries worldwide. The barriers to ancestry genetics include family health history not being incorporated into risk assessment and a limited list of genetic makers that made the results of the study not conclusive.

References

Kirkpatrick, B. E., & Rashkin, M. D. (2017). Ancestry testing and the practice of genetic counseling. Journal of genetic counseling, 26(1), 6-20. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1007/s10897-016-0014-2

Kuznetsov, V., Madjunkova, S., Antes, R., Abramov, R., Motamedi, G., Ibarrientos, Z., & Librach, C. (2018). Evaluation of a novel non-invasive preimplantation genetic screening approach. Plos one, 13(5), e0197262. https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pd.4804

Van den Veyver, I. B. (2016). Recent advances in prenatal genetic screening and testing. F1000Research, 5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5089140/.