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CONFERENCE PROCEEDING
Perceptions of midwives and nurses in New South Wales about genomic newborn screening: A focus group study
1
University of Newcastle, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Gosford, Australia
2
University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, Australia
3
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Western Sydney Genetics Program, Sydney, Australia
4
Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Australian Genomics, Sydney, Australia
Eur J Midwifery 2026;10(Supplement 1):A245
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
As one of the most successful population-based screening programs, Newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) has an uptake of 99% with 300,000 babies undergoing NBS every year across Australia to ensure early diagnosis and management of serious neonatal conditions. With new genomic technologies and treatments, the Australian government is considering expansion of NBS to increase the number of conditions screened by conducting genomic NBS (gNBS). Nurses working in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and midwives have a key role in NBS but little is known about their views, experience and knowledge about gNBS. The study ‘Newborn Genomic Sequencing in Screening: Therapy Ready and Information for Life (TRAIL)’ was funded by the Medical Research Future Fund to investigate the effectiveness and acceptability of gNBS.
OBJECTIVES:
To explore the perception and potential educational needs of midwives and nurses about gNBS.
METHODS:
Three focus groups were conducted with 14 midwives and 12 NICU nurses in New South Wales, Australia. Descriptive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
RESULTS:
Participants highlighted the importance of NBS in enhancing health outcomes, discussed the relevance of genomic to their clinical practice and benefits of gNBS but raised concerns about ethical and psychological consequences for the parents and practice consequences for the clinicians including workforce readiness. Concerns were raised about potential decrease in the uptake of NBS if gNBS was implemented. Participants emphasised the need for workforce upskilling, development of accessible resources to support communication, particularly for families with varying levels of language and health literacy and information-seeking preferences, and clear care pathways for high-risk results. The study was approved by the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network Human Research Ethics Committee.
CONCLUSIONS:
This study highlights the importance of developing tailored educational resources and patient communication tools as Australia moves closer to implementing gNBS.
KEY MESSAGE:
Midwives have a key role in the success of gNBS. Newborn 2
As one of the most successful population-based screening programs, Newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) has an uptake of 99% with 300,000 babies undergoing NBS every year across Australia to ensure early diagnosis and management of serious neonatal conditions. With new genomic technologies and treatments, the Australian government is considering expansion of NBS to increase the number of conditions screened by conducting genomic NBS (gNBS). Nurses working in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and midwives have a key role in NBS but little is known about their views, experience and knowledge about gNBS. The study ‘Newborn Genomic Sequencing in Screening: Therapy Ready and Information for Life (TRAIL)’ was funded by the Medical Research Future Fund to investigate the effectiveness and acceptability of gNBS.
OBJECTIVES:
To explore the perception and potential educational needs of midwives and nurses about gNBS.
METHODS:
Three focus groups were conducted with 14 midwives and 12 NICU nurses in New South Wales, Australia. Descriptive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
RESULTS:
Participants highlighted the importance of NBS in enhancing health outcomes, discussed the relevance of genomic to their clinical practice and benefits of gNBS but raised concerns about ethical and psychological consequences for the parents and practice consequences for the clinicians including workforce readiness. Concerns were raised about potential decrease in the uptake of NBS if gNBS was implemented. Participants emphasised the need for workforce upskilling, development of accessible resources to support communication, particularly for families with varying levels of language and health literacy and information-seeking preferences, and clear care pathways for high-risk results. The study was approved by the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network Human Research Ethics Committee.
CONCLUSIONS:
This study highlights the importance of developing tailored educational resources and patient communication tools as Australia moves closer to implementing gNBS.
KEY MESSAGE:
Midwives have a key role in the success of gNBS. Newborn 2
| eISSN: | 2585-2906 |
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