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One-size-fits-all doesn’t work well when it comes to healthcare.
Every patient is different. That’s why precision medicine, or personalized medicine, is so valuable. It takes an individualized approach, using a combination of the patient’s genetics, family medical history and lifestyle to determine the best treatment.
While the role of precision medicine in day-to-day healthcare today is relatively focused on cancer treatment, docs and researchers hope this approach will expand to all areas of health and become the standard of care in years to come.
What promises does precision medicine offer now and in the future?
In Episode 62, Dr. G and his guest, Peter Hulick, M.D., discuss precision medicine and what it means for the future of healthcare.
Guest
Myths vs. Facts
“Doctors can use precision medicine to learn your disease risk, prevent disease, find disease, target treatments, and monitor your response.” – Fact
Many doctors use this every day.
“Since most of a patient’s life is spent outside the healthcare system, integration of wearable devices and other patient-provided information would augment the electronic health record and enable greater telehealth capabilities.” – Fact
The more information doctors have the better, as it provides more insight into patient habits and daily life, which could indicate where they need medical support.
“In precision medicine, you won’t be treated with drugs that won’t work.” – Myth
Precision medicine is not a crystal ball. There are still many medications that don’t have a pharmacogenetic connection.
“Precision medicine is just about cancer genomics.” – Myth
It holds promise for improving many aspects of health and well-being beyond just cancer.
"The Precision Medicine Initiative was established to create a program with both long- and short-term goals to further our understanding of the impact of genetics, environment and lifestyle on an individual’s health.” – Fact
And the long-term effect is that it creates a repository for physicians to gain insight.
Listener healthy OH-YEAH!
“I found so much peace this past break. So much is not in my control that I create stress around. I’m keeping peace on the forefront. I got this.” – S.G.
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