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Taking, drawing, and using a family tree

Published on February 24, 2021   24 min

A selection of talks on Genetics & Epigenetics

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0:00
My name is Heather Hanson Pierce, I'm a principal genetic counsellor and education and training lead at the Clinical Genetics Department at Addenbrooke's NHS Trust. Today, I'd like to be presenting: taking, drawing, and using a family tree.
0:15
The objectives of this presentation. At the end of the presentation the participants should be able to: first, be aware of the reasons for taking a family history; to also be able to gather the information in a structured way, to enable them to draw a three-generation family tree; and also to understand the significance of the information that they've gathered from the family tree, and the implications for the family.
0:39
For taking, drawing, and using a family tree, the topics I'd like to cover are: firstly, why is a family tree needed?; secondly, I'd like to review the symbols and technique used to gather a family tree; I'd like to review the psychosocial considerations in taking a family tree; and then lastly, we will do some suggested exercises in taking a family tree; and then also reviewing risk-assessment techniques, and analysing the data that you've gathered.
1:09
Why do we take a family tree? There are many reasons to take a family tree. One is to get information that's key to assessment of the genetic risk in a family. It also shows the disease distribution at a glance, so it makes it easier to analyse the data than viewing it in longhand. It aids the diagnosis if a genetic condition is suspected, it gives clues to the inheritance pattern. It explains family relationships, which is important for developing rapport with the patient. It identifies who may be at risk, it records the situation at that time, so it is a static recording of the family history, and it also helps you get to know the family, so again, developing rapport with the patient.

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