Prenatal testing technologies in Australia

Unintended clinical and emotional complexities in underprepared systems

Bibliographic Data

ID4589217
AuthorsBelinda Johnson (0000-0001-6387-3042, RMIT University), Pieta Shakes (0000-0003-4487-6429, James Cook University), Chris Maylea (0000-0003-3688-0487, La Trobe University)
Year2024
Volume361
Pages117368
Publication date2024-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117368
PMID39353224
OpenAlexW4402829632
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited36

The past decade has seen technological advances in prenatal screening technologies rapidly integrated into clinical practice. These technologies have revolutionised healthcare and raised complex socio-ethical issues such as equitable access, medical commercialisation, and new eugenics. However, the important issue of the impact of these technologies on healthcare professionals is receiving less attention. Exploring this issue in the Australian context, we conducted a survey from August to November 2022, targeting health and allied health professionals who work with parents in the perinatal period who have received a fetal diagnosis. We received 75 substantive responses from a diversity of professionals, including sonographers, midwives, genetic counsellors and medical providers. In this article, we consider the unintended impacts of prenatal screening technologies on healthcare workers, drawing from Ziebland et al., 's 2021 unintended consequences framework. Our reflexive thematic analysis produced three key themes: "Unintended Clinical Complexities", "Adapting Work Practices to Keep Up in Systems that Lack", and "Unintended Intensification of Emotional Labour". Prenatal testing technologies have intentionally increased early testing and fetal information, offering veiled promises of increased certainty in pregnancy. However, our analysis highlights that these advancing technologies also generate more ambiguous results, creating unintended clinical and emotional complexities for healthcare providers. Workers must manage increased clinical uncertainty and constant change, creating intensified emotional labour in under-prepared systems. We conclude by identifying the need to recognise the impacts of advancing prenatal screening technologies on healthcare workers and for targeted professional training to prepare healthcare professionals for the complexities introduced by these new technologies

Family medicine · Ethics in Clinical Research · Fetal and Pediatric Neurological Disorders · Medicine · Prenatal Screening and Diagnostics · Psychology