Career in Genetic Counseling
Explore these pages to find out more about a career in Genetic Counseling.
Genetic Counseling as a Profession
Genetic counselors are health professionals with specialized
graduate degrees and experience in the areas of medical
genetics and counseling. Most enter the field from a variety
of disciplines, including biology, genetics, nursing,
psychology, public health, and social work.
Genetic counselors work as members of a health care team, providing
information and support to families who have members with
birth defects or genetic disorders and to families who
may be at risk for a variety of inherited conditions.
They identify families at risk, investigate the problem
present in the family, interpret information about the
disorder, analyze inheritance patterns and risks of recurrence
and review available options with the family.
Genetic counselors also provide
supportive counseling to families, serve as patient advocates
and refer individuals and families to community or state
support services. They serve as educators and resource
people for other health care professionals and for the
general public. Some counselors also work in administrative
capacities. Many engage in research activities related
to the field of medical genetics and genetic counseling.
Adopted by the
National Society of Genetic Counselors, Inc. 1983
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Core Skills of Genetic Counselors
Overview: A 2008-2009 NSGC Task Force evaluation of the core professional skills of genetic counselors identified six key areas of competence possessed by genetic counselors as a result of training and experience that translate to a variety of work settings, and when taken together, differentiate genetic counselors from other health professionals. To download this report in a printer-friendly PDF, please click here.
Genetic counseling, traditionally, is a clinical service performed by master’s degree-trained professionals educated at accredited genetic counseling training programs. A clinic-based genetic counselor will typically have patient and health team oriented skills including those outlined by the American Board of Genetic Counseling as “core competencies” in the domains of: Communication; Critical Thinking; Interpersonal, Counseling and Psychosocial Assessment; and Professional Ethics and Values.
Current and future projections suggest that the skills of genetic counselors translate into other areas, beyond the traditional face-to-face patient counseling session. The NSGC Core Skills Task Force (CSTF) was established to clarify the core skills of genetic counselors and identify additional skills that genetic counselors might develop to enhance their professional opportunities. The NSGC intends to use the CSTF findings for promotion of the genetic counseling profession and development of educational offerings for its members.
The CSTF reviewed reference materials and conducted telephone interviews with genetic counselors practicing in various roles in both clinical and non-clinical settings. This research produced a listing of core and additional genetic counseling skills (a comprehensive skill chart is attached). In summary, the Task Force identified six key areas of skills that are translatable to a variety of work settings and, taken together, differentiate genetic counselors from other health professionals. Detail on these skills and how genetic counselors use these skills to benefit potential employers and audiences is below.
| Core Skills of Genetic Counselors |
Benefits of Skill to employer/audience |
Examples of these skills |
| Deep and broad knowledge of genetics |
Improve quality of services/products |
Broad range of specialty areas where GCs practice (prenatal risk assessment; pediatric and adult diagnosis; pre-symptomatic risk assessment for hereditary and common disease) |
| Ability to tailor, translate and communicate complex information in a simple, relevant way for a broad range of audiences |
Transfer specialized knowledge to others (customer, other professionals, patients, etc); |
Patient education; physician education; case summaries; public speaking & education; journal and public press writing; creation of education and marketing materials |
| Strong interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and self-awareness |
Promote teamwork, collaboration and consensus-building |
cross-functional team-building and collaboration; networking to expand available resources; motivating others; people management and development |
| Ability to dissect and analyze a complex problem |
Find solutions to problems |
risk assessment; results interpretation; family history assessment; analysis of counseling session to provide relevant information and follow-up; utilizing data to make supported conclusions |
| Research skills (self-education) |
Meet deadlines and provide timely answers |
Identifying information sources including medical literature and experts and extracting relevant information for audience; self-study |
| In-depth knowledge of healthcare delivery |
Solutions are clinically feasible, applicable & fiscally responsible |
Develop clinical protocols and policies; identify relevant benefits of genetic services for marketing purposes |
Additional Skills for Development by Genetic Counselors
| Additional Skills |
Educational Recommendation |
| Navigating organizational politics and culture |
Professional development focused on gaining influence in an organization |
| Supervisory |
People management and people development |
| Budget management |
Budget development and management |
| Clinical research |
Development, Funding, Coordination, and Analysis of Clinical Research |
| Billing and reimbursement |
B & R in Healthcare |
| Marketing |
Basic Marketing and Advertising Skills |
| Creating business proposals |
Creating business plans and proposals |
References:
- Kubler, B. Forbes, P. (2005) Health Sciences and Practice: Allied Health Professions Student Employability Profile. http://www.cihe-uk.com/docs/SEP/AlliedHealth.pdf
- Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW), Scope of Practice, 2001: http://www.aosw.org/html/prof-scope.php
- Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW), Standards of Practice: http://www.aosw.org/html/prof-standards.php
- “Genetic Counseling Practice Analysis” (IN PRESS: Hampel et al., J Genet Coun. June 2009)
- American Board of Genetic Counseling: Practice-Based Competencies: www.abgc.net
- Interviews of key members with experience in core skills evaluation and development
- Industry SIG Brochure
- Industry SIG survey
- PSS Results: 2006 and 2008
- Scope of Practice
- Definition of Genetic Counseling
- NSGC Code of Ethics
- Licensure guiding principles
- Draft Billing & Reimbursement legislation
- Branding Report
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Demographics
Genetic counselors have diverse educational credentials
and background experiences. Membership information is
collected yearly in October, while a detailed Professional Status Survey is taken in
even years.
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Certification
Certification in genetic counseling is available by the
American
Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC). Requirements include
documentation of the following: a graduate degree in genetic
counseling; clinical experience in an ABGC-approved training
site or sites; a log book of 50 supervised cases; and
successful completion of both the general and specialty
certification examination.
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Training Programs
Currently, numerous training
programsoffer master's degrees in genetic
counseling in the United States. Programs are also offered
in Canada, Australia, England and South Africa. Coursework
typically includes clinical genetics, population genetics,
cytogenetics, and molecular genetics coupled with psychosocial
theory, ethics and counseling techniques. Clinical placement
in ABGC-approved medical genetics centers is an integral
part of the degree requirements. Additional programs
accept nurses seeking post-graduate degrees with
specialty
training in genetics.
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Career
Opportunities
The genetic counseling profession is rapidly expanding
and diversifying. Heightened public awareness, coupled
with scientific advances in adult disorders and reproductive
technologies, have increased the demand for genetic
counselors in clinical, teaching, administrative, commercial,
private practice and consulting environments. This trend
is expected to continue well into the 21st century ...and
beyond.
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Families
Served
Individuals and couples who may benefit from genetic
counseling include:
- Persons or families with a history
of cleft lip or palate, congenital heart defects,
spina bifida, short stature or other physical birth
defects
- Persons or families with genetic
disorders such as Down syndrome, Huntington disease,
cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, PKU, hemophilia
and other inherited disorders
- Persons or families affected with
mental retardation, hearing or visual impairments,
learning disabilities or other conditions which could
be genetic
- Persons or families with a history
of certain cardiac, cancer, psychiatric or neurogenetic
adult disorders
- Persons with a history of multiple
miscarriages, stillbirths or early infant deaths involving
multiple congenital anomalies
- Women age 34 and over who are
pregnant or are planning pregnancy
- Pregnant women at high risk due
to abnormal MSAFP or ultrasound screening tests
- Pregnant women concerned about
the effects of exposure to medication, drugs, chemicals,
infectious agents, radiation or certain work conditions.
This subspecialty is called teratology.
- Persons in specific ethnic groups
or geographic areas with a higher incidence of certain
disorders, such as Tay Sachs disease, sickle cell
disease, or thalassemias
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This information is provided by the National Society
of Genetic Counselors, Inc. to help individuals interested
in learning more about the genetic counseling profession.
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