The Participatory Approach to Personalized Medicine

Realizing personalized medicine’s full benefits will require active patient involvement. This is the first in a series of articles defining personalized medicine in the context of participatory medicine. The series will explore how current best practices can contribute to improved medical outcomes, reduced medication adverse reactions, increased patient satisfaction and overall value. What is “personalized medicine?” Personalized medicine, which is also called precision or individualized medicine, is an evolving field in which physicians use certain diagnostic tests to determine which medical treatments will work best for each individual patient.(1) This information is important because some drugs are ineffective on some patients, and sometimes the right tests can even determine that the disease isn’t what anyone thought. By combining the data from these certain diagnostic tests with an individual’s medical history, circumstances and values, clinicians can better work with patients to develop targeted treatment and prevention plans based on the patient’s unique preferences and biological markers (biomarkers), most of which are genetic (also known as genomic) in nature. Personalized medicine can (2): Shift the focus from the disease in a patient to the patient with a disease Shift the emphasis in medicine from reaction to collaboration and partnership Direct the selection of optimal therapy and reduce trial-and-error prescribing Help avoid some adv...
Source: Society for Participatory Medicine - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Newsletter biomarkers individualized medicine participatory approach Patient Involvement personalized medicine Source Type: news