Perceptions of personalized medicine in an academic health system: Educational findings

Abstract

Allison Vorderstrasse, Sara Huston Katsanis, Mollie A. Minear,Nancy Yang, Tejinder Rakhra-Burris, Jason W. Reeves, Robert Cook-eegan, Geoffrey S. Ginsburg, Leigh Ann Simmons

Objective: Prior reports demonstrate that personalized medicine (PM) implementation in clinical care is lacking. Given the program focus at Duke University on PM, we assessed health care providers’ perspectives on their preparation and educational needs to effectively integrate PM tools and applications into their clinical practices. Methods: Data from 78 health care providers who participated in a larger study of personalized and precision medicine at Duke University were analyzed using Qualtrics (descriptive statistics). Individuals age 18 years and older were recruited for the larger study through broad email contacts across the university and health system. All participants completed an online 35-question survey that was developed, pilot-tested, and administered by a team of interdisciplinary researchers and clinicians at the Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine. Results: Overall, providers reported being ill-equipped to implement PM in clinical practice. Many respondents identified educational resources as critical for strengthening the PM implementation in both research and clinical practice. Responses did not differ significantly between specialists and primary providers or by years since completion of the medical degree. Conclusions: Survey findings support prior calls for provider and patient education in PM. Respondents identified focus areas in training, education, and research for improving PM uptake. Given respondents’ emphasis on educational needs, now may be an ideal time to address these needs in clinical training and public education programs.