Personalized Medicine - Translational Informatics: Realizing the Promise of Knowledge-Driven Healthcare - page 53

￿ As the number of factors affecting clinical decisions increases, information
technology and the clinical decision support it can provide becomes increas-
ingly important.

Patients and Their Communities

￿ Patients and their advocates can help clinicians do a better job providing care by

being informed and engaged .

Finally, across all stakeholders but particularly clinicians and researchers, train-
ing programs will need to evolve to increase general knowledge in genetics , com-
puter science , and quantitative methods .

3.7 Conclusions

This is a very exciting time for the fi eld of personalized medicine, and informatics
plays a critical part in both enabling its achievements and addressing its challenges.
Ongoing advances in biomedical techniques, health information technology, and
informatics methodologies will continue to accelerate progress in this important
area of translational research and clinical practice. Ultimately, realization of person-
alized medicine will benefi t stakeholders across the biomedical enterprise.

Discussion Points

￿ How does personalized medicine differ from how medicine has been practiced
for decades? Haven't doctors always taken the specifi c individual into account?
What has changed?
￿ How can personalized medicine reduce health care costs even as more treatments
are being discovered? How could it increase them? What new costs could be
introduced that did not apply in the past?
￿ What are the respective wins from personalized medicine for the various stake-
holders? What are some potential challenges it raises? Consider health, econom-
ics, ethics, and workforce training.
￿ How can personalized medicine facilitate patient engagement? What are some
ways in which patients can help realize the participatory aspect of P4 medicine?

￿ What are some other potential future directions for personalized medicine?

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