Managing expectational language: Translational genetic professionals consider the clinical potential of next-generation sequencing technologies

Pei P. Koay, Richard R. Sharp

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Clinical genetic professionals are used to being flooded by claims about the seemingly endless potential and promise of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in medicine today. This paper is about managing expectations in translational medicine. From 2009 to 2011, we conducted focus groups with genetic and allied professionals concerned with genomics in the clinic to examine their attitudes and perspectives of genetic and genomic tools in this environment. In this paper, we examine and explore some of their discussions, specifically related to NGS and whole genome sequencing tests and their introduction as normal clinical tools. Informed by sociology of expectations (SE), we discuss expectational language in the arena of translational medicine. Through SE, illuminated are some barriers and strategies used by professionals to manage expectations. Further, our work suggests the importance of SE and more nuanced study to understand the discursive realm of translational genomic medicine.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)126-148
Number of pages23
JournalNew Genetics and Society
Volume33
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 3 2014

Keywords

  • Clinical genomics
  • Expectations
  • New medical technologies

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Issues, ethics and legal aspects
  • Health(social science)
  • Genetics
  • Health Policy

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