How practical experiences, educational routes and multidisciplinary teams influence genetic counsellors' clinical practice in Europe.

How practical experiences, educational routes and multidisciplinary teams influence genetic counsellors' clinical practice in Europe. Clin Genet. 2017 Dec 18;: Authors: Pestoff R, Moldovan R, Cordier C, Serra-Juhé C, Paneque M, Ingvoldstad C Abstract The main objective of our study was to explore whether, and to what extent, genetic counsellors' characteristics impact on their tasks in practice. Specifically, we explored the complementariness between genetic counsellors and medical geneticists and therefore looked at the most relevant tasks of genetic counsellors, according to genetic counsellors themselves and according to the medical geneticists they work with. 104 genetic counsellors and 29 medical geneticists from 15 countries completed a purposefully designed questionnaire. Results showed that most genetic counsellors in Europe perform similar tasks, irrespective of their backgrounds. When looking at the factors influencing genetic counsellors' roles data showed that the type of tasks performed by genetic counsellors is associated with the years of experience in the field, not with their background or education. Of particular interest was the consensus between genetic counsellors and medical geneticists regarding the genetic counsellor's role. Not surprisingly, tasks with more psychosocial implications were seen as genetic counsellors' eligibility while tasks with more medical implications were seen as medical geneticists' attr...
Source: Clinical Genetics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Clin Genet Source Type: research