Colleen: The NSGC Professional Status Survey (PSS) is very complex, and we recognize the significant amount of time and effort it takes to produce annually, so I would like to first thank all of the volunteers who currently serve on the PSS Committee as well as those who have served in the past for this massive undertaking. I have invited our PSS Committee Chair and Vice Chair, Amber Gemmell and Sara Lewis to join me in writing this column.

Amber and Sara: Over the years, the PSS has navigated many challenges leading to changes and updates to the structure, content and frequency of the survey and reporting. However, several challenges described below still remain and have been voiced by NSGC members.  

One recurring member comment is the length of the survey. As the roles, activities and positions held by genetic counselors continue to grow, questions to capture this evolving profession have been added to the survey. In addition, many of the questions asked require data that is often not easily obtained, leading to unanswered questions or responses of “Unsure”. While salary and patient volume data have often been highlights of the PSS, this data is self-reported. Members are reporting that employers are more frequently challenging or refusing to accept the salary data and patient volume data contained in the PSS as the self-reported nature of the data is viewed as less reliable than data collected directly from an employer. Historically the PSS has had a response rate of at least 50%, which is much higher than average survey response rates. However, in the past five years the PSS response rate has continued to decline from 50% in 2020 to 38% in 2024. While still a high response rate, it is important that we find ways to ensure the PSS is both representative of the genetic counseling profession and its members while obtaining a statistically significant response. Lastly, NSGC has been surveying its members more frequently than in the past which may be contributing to survey fatigue. Throughout these various NSGC administered surveys we are seeing similar questions being asked. In order to ensure that PSS remains relevant, reliable and valuable to NSGC members there are several key questions that should be evaluated surrounding not only the questions asked, but how the survey is administered and how the data is collected, reported and used. A few key questions we need to consider include: a) What are the major points of value of the PSS for NSGC members? b) What data are most useful to NSGC and our members from the current PSS c) Is an annual survey the right cadence for all of the data collected in the survey? d) Should NSGC consider collecting salary or other data through different methods such as third-party research firms? e) What data is redundant vs. unique between the PSS and other NSGC surveys?

Colleen: The Board of Directors has decided to pause the PSS for 2025. The Board is working on developing a charter and PSS Task Force to rethink the survey audiences, key data, structure/format, administration, analysis and reporting. We will provide an update during the State of the Society at the Annual Conference.

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