Healthcare science staff in this field use specialist knowledge to support patients and their families. They order genetic and genomic tests to clarify health risks and use counselling skills to support and empower patients as they incorporate this information into their lives.
Genomic counsellors help to diagnose, manage, predict and screen for genetic disease. They take and analyse family history information, assessing the risks of inheriting or passing on a medical condition, ordering and interpreting genetic and genomic test results and explaining these to the patient and their relatives.
Genomic counsellors also use techniques from counselling to help patients adjust to having a genetic condition and to help them make difficult decisions associated with this.