The Value of Family History in the Prenatal Care Practice Curriculum

"The Value of Family History in the Prenatal Care Practice" is a resource for educators on family health history in prenatal care. This curriculum explores the benefit of applying family health history in primary care prenatal practice.

This 60-minute presentation can be implemented as a Grand Rounds lecture. It is targeted to the primary care prenatal provider, including Obstetricians, Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners, Family Medicine providers, Physician Assistants, and other prenatal care providers. It is appropriate for clinical trainees, medical residents, and practicing providers.

This powerpoint slide set with presentation notes provides information on collecting and interpreting family health history and applies these concepts through three interactive case studies:

• Neural tube defects
• Fragile X syndrome
• Sickle cell anemia

Learning Objectives

After completion of this program, prenatal primary-care professionals will be better able to:

1. Understand the importance of collecting family health history information in the prenatal setting.
2. Identify red flags in the family history that signify increased inherited risk.
3. Analyze family history information obtained from the patient for single-gene and complex conditions.
4. Recognize the Financial, Ethical, Legal, and Social issues associated with collecting and interpreting family history information.
5. Develop an appropriate evaluation and management plan based on family health history assessment.

View the Slide Set

Developed through collaboration between the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics, Genetic Alliance, March of Dimes, Partners Healthcare, and Holly Tutko, University of New Hampshire with funding from HRSA (Grant #U33MC12786).

Developed through collaboration between the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics, Genetic Alliance, March of Dimes, Partners Healthcare, and Holly Tutko, University of New Hampshire with funding from HRSA (Grant #U33MC12786).

See the Presentation

View a webinar presentation of this curriculum presented by Siobhan Dolan, MD, MPH.

The Value of Family History in the Prenatal Care Setting

Siobhan Dolan, MD, MPH, will present a grand rounds webinar on how family health history is applied in the prenatal care setting. Her talk will a) briefly review the tools that providers may use to collect information and the red flags to look for in prenatal practice; b) discuss current management guidelines that are applied when conducting genetic risk assessment in the prenatal setting; and c) review a series of interactive case studies demonstrating the utility of family history in improving maternal and child health outcomes. Although targeted for primary prenatal providers, including obstetricians, nurse midwives, family medicine providers, and others, all are welcomed to join. The presentation supports the professional educational goals of a larger HRSA-funded project, Family History For Prenatal Providers [link], to develop a novel family health history tool primary care providers can share with patients during the first prenatal visit.