Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32576987›Full record

ArticleGenetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics2020

The composition and capacity of the clinical genetics workforce in high-income countries: a scoping review.

Nick Dragojlovic, Kennedy Borle, Nicola Kopac, Ursula Ellis, Patricia Birch, Shelin Adam, Jan M Friedman, Amy Nisselle, GenCOUNSEL Study, Alison M Elliott and 1 more

Erratum issuedAbstract readScoping Review
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Genetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 76 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
76citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

76 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  13. When clinical genetics turns the risk lens on itself.European journal of human genetics : EJHG · 2026
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Assessing genetic counseling efficiency with natural language processing.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2026
    Article
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  19. Review
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16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Nick DragojlovicCollaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8600-371X
Kennedy BorleCollaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Nicola KopacCollaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Ursula EllisWoodward Library, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Patricia BirchDepartment of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Shelin AdamDepartment of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Jan M FriedmanDepartment of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Amy NisselleAustralian Genomics Health Alliance, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
GenCOUNSEL Study
Alison M ElliottDepartment of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Larry D LyndCollaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. larry.lynd@ubc.ca.

Funding

CIHR
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

As genetics becomes increasingly integrated into all areas of health care and the use of complex genetic tests continues to grow, the clinical genetics workforce will likely face greatly increased demand for its services. To inform strategic planning by health-care systems to prepare to meet this future demand, we performed a scoping review of the genetics workforce in high-income countries, summarizing all available evidence on its composition and capacity published between 2010 and 2019. Five databases (MEDLINE, Embase, PAIS, CINAHL, and Web of Science) and gray literature sources were searched, resulting in 162 unique studies being included in the review. The evidence presented includes the composition and size of the workforce, the scope of practice for genetics and nongenetics specialists, the time required to perform genetics-related tasks, case loads of genetics providers, and opportunities to increase efficiency and capacity. Our results indicate that there is currently a shortage of genetics providers and that there is a lack of consensus about the appropriate boundaries between the scopes of practice for genetics and nongenetics providers. Moreover, the results point to strategies that may be used to increase productivity and efficiency, including alternative service delivery models, streamlining processes, and the automation of tasks.

Indexed as

Delivery of Health CareDeveloped CountriesHumansWorkforceclinical geneticistclinical geneticsgenetic counselorhuman resourcesworkforce

Identifiers

PMID32576987

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.