ESHG-EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Domenico Coviello (Chair, Milan, Italy)
Martina Cornel (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Celia DeLozier (USA/Switzerland)
Peter Farndon (Birmingham, UK)
Peter Goetz (Czech Republic)
Shirley Hodgson (London, U.K.)
Alastair Kent (Patients Organizations, GIG and EAGS)
Gyorgy Kosztolanyi (Pécs, Hungary)
Jorge Sequeiros (Porto, Portugal)
Heather Skirton (Plymouth, UK)

Additional collaborating members:
Agnes Bloch-Zupan (Strasbourg, France)
Rodney Harris (Manchester, U.K.)
Vaidutis Kucinskas (Lithuania)
Tayfun Özcelik (Ankara, Turkey)
Fred Petrij (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Maria Soller (Lund, Sweden)

Dear Colleagues,

During the past winter our activity have been focussed on completing the draft document “Core competences in genetics for health professionals in Europe”.
After the Porto meeting (September 2006) the document received input from experts from several European countries (see list of contributors) and is now open for consultation on the web site of our society (see news). The document has been edited by the staff group of Unit 6 of Eurogentest and I would like to thank in particular Heather Skirton for her work. We hope that the document will get consensus on a set of core competences that could apply to health professionals in Europe, whatever their national setting. This could provide an appropriate framework for establishing minimum standards of preparation for health care professionals in genetics across national boundaries.

We hope to receive comments from members as to the relevance and applicability of this competence framework to their own country and profession.
We will have also the chance to comment it at the Education workshop at the ESHG meeting in Nice.

I would like also to thank Prof. Peter Farndon for his hospitality. On 27th of April 2007, I visited his institute, the NHS National Genetics Education and Development Centre in Birmingham (UK) (www.geneticseducation.nhs.uk), which is working with a range of groups throughout the UK to facilitate the integration of genetics education into all levels of education and training for NHS health professionals. The Centre is currently working with dietitians, medical professionals, nursing professionals and pharmacists. An educational competence framework for nursing professionals and learning outcomes for medical students, specialty trainees and GP trainees, have been agreed. Additionally, the Centre, working with Skills for Health, has developed a set of nine competences in genetics for non-genetics healthcare professionals. This competence framework specifies what tasks need to be completed in a patient pathway but does not specify who should carry out the tasks. The Centre is now focusing on implementing the genetics competences and on developing resources to support the competence frameworks and learning outcomes in clinical practice. Evaluating the outcomes of the education programs is a key component of the Centre’s work. I believe that in the near future a joint initiative between the Centre in UK and the ESHG could be very productive to establish an educational framework in Europe.

I need also to apology with some of you for not be able to answer to your e-mail messages and not been able to follow all activities proposed last year (in particular Celia and Agnes!). Attached is the document in case some of you have not received it in previous invoices.

The next Education Committee meeting will be in Nice on Sunday 17 June, from 10.45 to 12.45, Room "Gallieni 5". Attached is a proposed agenda, please send me a massage to confirm your participation and to include additional topic to the agenda, as reports (experiences or new tools available) to be discussed and to help us to set up priorities for the next year.

My best regards,

Domenico Coviello

Archives:
Letter 13 - March 21 2008
Letter 12 - August 17, 2007
Letter 11 - May 10, 2007
Letter 10 - October 3, 2006
Letter 9 - July 3, 2006
Letter 8 - April 21, 2006