Abstract
Over the past ten years, the roles of genetic counselors have expanded beyond the clinical realm into new and emerging non-clinical opportunities. Recently, the media began to question whether genetic counselors who counsel patients on genetic testing should be paid by the same companies performing the test, thus presenting the possibility of a conflict of interest (COI). The purpose of this study is to assess genetic counselors’ current opinions on what constitutes a COI, whether they believe it is necessary to disclose a given COI to a patient, whether they experienced a COI in their practice, how they managed the COI, and where they sought out guidance regarding its disclosure. Two hundred forty-two genetic counselors practicing within the U.S. and belonging to NSGC completed our anonymous online survey with a response rate of 10.1%. Regardless of their current role as a genetic counselor, most genetic counselors generally agree whether or not a given hypothetical situation presents a COI and most agree that disclosure of a COI to a patient is necessary. Fewer than 25% of the respondents reported encountering at least one COI throughout their career, whereas 69.2% report that they never had (N=240). Of the 32 genetic counselors that reported experiencing at least one of six specific listed COI’s, twenty-five did not disclose their COI to their patient. The most common resources used by genetic counselors seeking guidance on COI disclosure were their institutional guidelines (N=58) and most genetic counselors found their institution’s guidelines to be the most helpful of all resources used (N=54). In light of the increasing potential for COI’s in the genetic counseling profession, it is important to develop clear-cut professional guidelines on what constitutes a COI, when a COI should be disclosed to a patient, and if so, how.