Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
are informed. So much information is available online—individuals can learn about
everything from the human genome to mechanisms of disease to how to interpret a
p
-value. Reputable medical websites such as WebMD
1
and the Mayo Clinic
2
offer
information across a broad set of conditions. In addition, many disease-centric soci-
eties offer information to patients and their families. While one must exercise com-
mon sense and restraint, not believing everything one reads on the internet, and not
bombarding a time-constrained physician with reams of internet-derived medical
wisdom, better informed patients will be better able to ask the right questions and to
have a meaningful dialog with their care providers. This, in turn, will enable the
patient to feel more empowered and to play an active role in formulating a treatment
plan. Cancer survivor, Dave deBronkart, also known as “ePatientDave,” has taken
participatory medicine to a new level with his website, blog, social media presence,
and keynote presentations on patient engagement, with particular emphasis on
HealthIT.
3
Taking a broader view, patient communities can advocate for causes that
increase the likelihood, and speed, that personalized medicine will become a reality,
including research funding, data sharing, and science education.
3.6
Implications for Stakeholders
It can be seen that each of the different stakeholders described in Chap.
2
benefi ts
from realization of the vision of personalized medicine: physicians provide better
care, patients are healthier and receive better care when they do get sick, and payers
get more for their money. But there are other implications as well. Key among
those are:
Evidence and Policy Generators
Researchers must continue to
develop and master new technologies and statis-
tical techniques
to generate new data types, convert that data into information,
and extract new biomedical knowledge from the information, informing new
guidelines for clinical care.
Policy makers must
consider ethical
,
legal
,
social
,
and economic issues
around
the new capabilities that are enabled through personalized medicine and transla-
tional bioinformatics.
Providers and Healthcare Organizations
Medicine is poised to shift away from the macroscopic classifi cations that have
been employed for centuries toward a more
precise and personalized approach
to health and disease
.
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