Premium
Defining the Role of Laboratory Genetic Counselor
Author(s) -
Christian Susan,
Lilley Margaret,
Hume Stacey,
Scott Patrick,
Somerville Martin
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of genetic counseling
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1573-3599
pISSN - 1059-7700
DOI - 10.1007/s10897-011-9419-0
Subject(s) - genetic counseling , genetic testing , autonomy , human genetics , medicine , test (biology) , job satisfaction , family medicine , psychology , social psychology , genetics , paleontology , political science , gene , law , biology
An increasing number of genetic counselors are moving into non‐clinical roles, where their primary duties do not involve direct patient contact. According to the National Society of Genetic Counselors Professional Status Survey in 2010, 23% of counselors working in non‐clinical roles identified laboratory or genetic testing as their primary area of work. Using a survey, we identified 43 genetic counselors who work predominately in laboratory settings. The two primary tasks performed by participants, include acting as a customer liaison (95%) and calling out test results (88%). Nineteen participants (44.2%) also reported spending a considerable amount of time signing reports. The most prevalent areas of job satisfaction were support from laboratory directors (76.8%), autonomy (76.7%), interactions with clinicians (69.7%) and interaction with other genetics counselors (67.5%). This is the first study specifically looking at the roles of laboratory genetic counselors, which is an expanding area of genetic counseling.