Current landscape of clinical genetics knowledge and attitudes among Non-Geneticist Physicians - the McGill genetics education survey (McGES).

Medical genetics is a rapidly expanding field, and the role of non-geneticist physicians is becoming increasingly important. Our study aimed to understand the attitudes of non-geneticist physicians on implementing clinical genetics in their practice, as well as the knowledge gaps and other barriers that they face.Our survey consisted of an instructive quiz targeting non-geneticists in North America. Previous studies have focused primarily on general practitioners, but we additionally targeted pediatricians, OBGYNs, internists, neurologists, psychiatrists and oncologists.Most participants (73%) were interested in implementing clinical genetics in their practice, although their confidence in doing so was significantly lower than their reported interest (p < 0.001). 63% of our participants wanted additional education prior to mainstreaming, and 37% wanted more collaboration with clinical geneticists. Knowing when to refer a patient to genetics, being able to consent patients for genetic testing, and understanding genetic test results were areas of interest for our participants. Physicians who had sent more than 10 referrals to genetics in the past 24 months scored 12.5% higher in the knowledge questions than participants who had not sent any genetic referrals (p < 0.001). Family doctors had low scores on questions pertaining to first-line genetic tests, and also had the lowest referral rate to genetics (p < 0.001).This study illustrates how our survey can be used as an educational tool for non-geneticists. Moreover, we propose several ways to bridge the knowledge and confidence gaps identified in our study to support non-geneticist physicians in providing clinical genetics care to their patients.