Partnering for Cancer Care: Understanding Germline Genetic Testing

We’re excit­ed to announce a new video resource designed to sup­port can­cer patients to bet­ter under­stand germline genet­ic test­ing. Germline test­ing checks for inher­it­ed can­cer risks, pro­vid­ing cru­cial infor­ma­tion to guide treat­ment deci­sions in can­cer care.

This video, cre­at­ed in col­lab­o­ra­tion with health­care pro­fes­sion­als and con­sumers, com­ple­ments the exist­ing Germline Genet­ic Test­ing Packs (Genet­ic Packs) and pro­vides patients with a clear and acces­si­ble expla­na­tion of the test­ing process. The Genet­ic Packs offer a com­pre­hen­sive toolk­it that helps non-genet­ics can­cer spe­cial­ists, such as oncol­o­gists, to facil­i­tate genet­ic test­ing includ­ing pre-test coun­selling and con­sent. The packs were pre­vi­ous­ly devel­oped to sup­port a statewide frame­work, increas­ing access to genet­ic test­ing by inte­grat­ing it into rou­tine can­cer care path­ways. By com­bin­ing these packs with the new video resource, health­care providers can ensure that patients have access to all the infor­ma­tion they need to make informed deci­sions about their care. 

Key Ben­e­fits of the New Video: 

• Enhanced patient under­stand­ing: The video offers an easy-to-under­stand expla­na­tion of germline genet­ic test­ing, help­ing patients make informed deci­sions about their health­care. Patients can access and revis­it the video at their convenience. 

• Fam­i­ly involve­ment: Patients can share the video with loved ones, fos­ter­ing open dis­cus­sions and sup­port­ing fam­i­ly mem­bers in their own health­care journeys. 

• Stream­lined access: Health­care pro­fes­sion­als can eas­i­ly share the video with patients through a direct link or by refer­ring them to the Adult Genet­ics Unit website.

To learn more or to view/​share the video, see Germline Test­ing.