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was destined to be a hybrid, drawing skills from both the medical and the counsel-
ing professions. This graduate program, and others that soon followed, educates
students to be unique health-care professionals who help their patients cope with
both the medical and the psychosocial aspects of genetic risk and disease. Genetic
counselors saw their responsibilities as not only involving the provision of genetic
risk information but also working with families to help them understand their condi-
tion and their options for dealing with the condition, facilitating decision- making,
and providing psychosocial supportive services (Eunpu 1997 ).
In 2017, there were more than 4000 practicing genetic counselors in North
America, with growth in the profession evidenced by the addition of about 350 new
professionals each year. Moreover, there were 41 graduate genetic counseling pro-
grams established in North America and several others in the planning stages.
International growth in the genetic counseling profession was also evident, with
long-standing programs in the UK, Australia, and South Africa and more recent
programs in Armenia, Cuba, France, Italy, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands,
Norway, the Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Taiwan (TAGC 2017 ).
According to The National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC 2017 ), the
scope of practice for genetic counselors includes the following:
“Genetic Counselor Scope of Practice:
a) obtain and evaluate individual, family, and medical histories to determine genetic risk for
genetic/medical conditions and diseases in a patient, his/her offspring, and other family
members;
b) discuss the features, natural history, means of diagnosis, genetic and environmental factors,
and management of risk for genetic/medical conditions and diseases;
c) identify and coordinate genetic laboratory tests and other diagnostic studies as appropriate
for the genetic assessment;
d) integrate genetic laboratory test results and other diagnostic studies with personal and fam-
ily medical history to assess and communicate risk factors for genetic/medical conditions
and diseases;
e) explain the clinical implications of genetic laboratory tests and other diagnostic studies and
their results;
f) evaluate the client’s or family’s responses to the condition or risk of recurrence and provide
client-centered counseling and anticipatory guidance;
g) identify and utilize community resources that provide medical, educational, financial, and
psychosocial support and advocacy; and
h) provide written documentation of medical, genetic, and counseling information for families
and health care professionals” (n.d.).
Today’s genetic counselors help thousands of patients each year either through
direct care or indirectly through their work in education, research, and commercial
arenas. They work in a wide variety of settings and possess a multiplicity of skills
from basic science to counseling, teaching, research, management, education, and
more. Genetic counselors have taken, and will continue to take, the profession in
new and different directions. Nevertheless, the patient/genetic counselor relation-
ship is central, and strong communication and counseling skills will always serve as
the basic framework for genetic counseling.
2 Overview offiGenetic Counseling