What Do You Really Need to Know About Your Patient’s Family History?

Learning Objectives and CME/Disclosure Information

This activity is intended for healthcare providers delivering care to women and their families.

After completing this activity, the participant should be better able to:

1. List key pieces of information to collect when updating your patient’s family health history
2. Recall web-based resources that can be used to construct and document a patient’s family health history

Estimated time to complete activity: 0.25 hours

Faculty:

Susan J. Gross, MD, FRCSC, FACOG, FACMG
President and CEO, The ObG Project

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) requires instructors, planners, managers and other individuals who are in a position to control the content of this activity to disclose any real or apparent conflict of interest (COI) they may have as related to the content of this activity. All identified COI are thoroughly vetted and resolved according to PIM policy. PIM is committed to providing its learners with high quality CME activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial interest.

Faculty: Susan J. Gross, MD, receives consulting fees from Genoox, Inc., and has financial interest in The ObG Project, Inc.

Planners and Managers: The PIM planners and managers, Trace Hutchison, PharmD, Samantha Mattiucci, PharmD, CHCP, Judi Smelker-Mitchek, MBA, MSN, RN, and Jan Schultz, MSN, RN, CHCP have nothing to disclose.

Method of Participation and Request for Credit

Fees for participating and receiving CME credit for this activity are as posted on The ObG Project website. During the period from Dec 31 2017 through Dec 31 2020, participants must read the learning objectives and faculty disclosures and study the educational activity.

If you wish to receive acknowledgment for completing this activity, please complete the post-test and evaluation. Upon registering and successfully completing the post-test with a score of 100% and the activity evaluation, your certificate will be made available immediately.

For Pharmacists: Upon successfully completing the post-test with a score of 100% and the activity evaluation form, transcript information will be sent to the NABP CPE Monitor Service within 4 weeks.

Joint Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and The ObG Project. Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Physician Continuing Medical Education

Postgraduate Institute for Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Continuing Nursing Education

The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 0.2 contact hours.

Read Disclaimer & Fine Print

CLINICAL ACTIONS:

Establish a mechanism in your practice to elicit, interpret and routinely update your patients’ Family Health History (FHH) to determine potential increased risks for hereditary conditions to your patient and offspring
- Consider eliciting new information during annual routine gynecologic visits
Gather information on health status of all biological first- and second-degree relatives. To the best of patient’s knowledge, elicit and record the following:
- Current age or age at death
- Gender at birth
- Medical conditions with ages of onset and any issues with intellectual disabilities
- Maternal and paternal ethnicity and note any consanguinity
Information on health status of third degree relatives may be useful in some instances
Refer for genetic counseling to discuss complex, or highly suggestive FHH

SYNOPSIS:

A detailed and accurate family health history can serve as an important screening tool, to assist in determining whether your patient and/or their offspring may be at increased risk for certain hereditary or familial conditions. This information can be important in determining if increased medical surveillance for certain conditions may be warranted.

Any patient with a family history that is suggestive of a familial or hereditary condition could be referred for more detailed discussion in a genetic counseling setting.

KEY POINTS:

Patients may filter the information that they tell you, or may not know their family history. Try to determine their level of knowledge regarding their FHH, and ask them to gather more information that may impact their level of risk.

Ask specific, but open ended questions
A completed family history form may be utilized to obtain and document FHH
- It is helpful to remind the patient why this information is being gathered and why it is important