The Pros And Cons Of Personalized Medicine

Biological variations may seem to be the most intuitive practice for healthcare providers. However, the provider must not only observe but ask questions pertaining to one’s genetic history. Assessing patient genetic and family history is imperative to health risks, drug therapies, and presentation of illnesses. This includes an individual’s skin color, race, stature, and even psychological coping of illness (Sager, 2011).

How many U.S. families are in thousands of dollars of debt due to the outrageous costs of healthcare? People are steering clear of medical attention that they know they need because they want to avoid this debt that they will inevitably get into. There is a solution for these people that need relief from their physical and financial problems. Socialized medicine is a system in which the government owns and regulates all aspects of the healthcare industry, which gives the common people a chance to get the medical attention they need.

From the most expensive medical treatments, to the least expensive, the risk factor for any procedure stays the same. Scientists still have not perfected the use of genetic engineering in animals, let alone humans. One issue is that genetic tests can’t always predict future disease. No

Braun tells me that there are possibly a million SNPs in each person, though only a small fraction are tightly linked with common ailments. These disease-causing SNPs are fueling a biotech bonanza; the hope is that after finding them, the discoverers can design wonder drugs. In the crowded SNP field, Sequenom vies with Iceland-based deCode Genetics, American companies such as Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Orchid

HC1: Personalized medicine is a relatively new practice that involves using a person’s genetics to make medical decisions about which direction to take in terms of disease prevention, treatment, and diagnosis (“Personalized medicine,” 2015). The practice of personalized medicine allows doctors to predict which diseases a certain individual may be susceptible to so that proper treatment less likely to harm the patient can be ensued. This could potentially be an incredible breakthrough in the field of science and medicine (“What is personalized”, n.d.).

The need for new and more effective treatment continues to increase and personalized medicine appears to be the answer to our prayers. With further research personalized medicine could revolutionize pharmaceuticals and to go out on a limb even find a cure for aids and other cancers. But it is too early to have high expectations for a science that has not been deeply explored. It seems that the fantasy of finding a perfect match treatment for each individual has raised support from many institutions including the White House and the FDA. There have been some recent personalized medicine treatments approved by the FDA and this has lead President Obama to bring forward the Precision Medicine Initiative (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), which would give millions in monetary support for research to be conducted on personalized medicine. The issue here is whether

Our clinician specialists that managed interventions for genetic disease continually found that they were seeing patients who required more dramatic interventions or difficult conversations about the progression of disease, even toward end-of-life. Our front line providers in primary care had the most frequent opportunity to identify the patient’s risk for disease. Physicians at the Clinic embrace and embody the mission of the clinic to put patients first, and live a culture which is open to using new tools that will help increase the quality of care delivered to patients. The team I put together imagined a integrate technical solution that could

The purpose of this paper is to complete a Genetic and Genomic Nursing Assessment to analyze family genetic health risks. Genomics is the study of genes in the human genome and their interactions with each other and the environment and genetics is the study of individual genes and their effect on clinical disorders (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Hanson, 2015). Nurses should be able to perform an assessment of a family 's genetic health risks by using a three-generation family pedigree to obtain information regarding possible genetic inheritance pattern and recurrence risks. The family chosen for this paper has a history of chromosome balanced and unbalanced translocation. A balanced translocation is a chromosomal abnormality that if unbalanced (too much or too little genetic material) can lead to infertility, multiple miscarriages, or a child with congenital abnormalities, developmental issues, etc. A balanced translocation does not have a straightforward inheritance pattern. It depends on the chromosomes involved, if the carrier is a male versus female and how much genetic material is involved in the translocation itself.

Our incessant curiosity for knowledge and answers has prompted the intricate research institutions we know today. Among the volumes of research, scientists have searched for innovations to better understand the human body and edge closer to more individualized medicine. In 1990, breakthroughs in genetic technology allowed for researchers to begin a quest to map and understand all the genes of human beings. A mere 13 years later and just shy of $3 billion invested the Human Genome Project successfully mapped the billions of base pairs involved. With the ability to diagnose specific abnormalities, researchers and medical professionals have saved hundreds of ill children to which their survival was indefinite. However, with scientists continuing

To an extent, most diseases are related back to the genetic makeup you are born with. For example, your genes can influence your risk for certain degenerative diseases from osteoporosis to Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and diabetes or even something as simple as the common cold (“Direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits”, 2010). Your genetics can also determine how susceptible your body is to infections, allergic reactions, or how your body breaks body nutrients and drugs (Direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits, 2010). Due to scientific and technological advancements, it not now possible to predict your unique risk for certain diseases and how to prevent them through at home genetic testing kits (“Direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits”, 2010).

The book The Personalized Medicine Revolution: How Diagnosing and Treating Disease are About to Change Forever is an interesting journey through the evolution of our scientific knowledge and subsequent technologies followed by a final foray into the most current accomplishments in personalized medicine and where it’s going.

Josko (2014) asserts that the era of personalized medicine is upon us, and that with the completion of the Human Genome Project, and advances in DNA sequencing techniques and

Genetic and rare diseases are a huge medical and economic burden on not only developing countries like my home country India, but also in the more developed western hemisphere. Growing up, I was fortunate to be surrounded by friends a majority of which were medically trained professionals, and I became increasingly aware of the importance of such diseases that are chronic and severely debilitating if not always truly lethal. International and national agencies continue to look for opportunities to strengthen preventive strategies that can cut this burden.

But personalized medicine was not a new subject to medicine, in the word of Hippocrates- “It’s far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has” (1). Taking Age, weight, and sex into consideration while prescribing medicine is a type of personalized medicine. “Personalized medicine” may be thought of as tailoring medical treatment to the individual characteristics, needs, and preferences of each patient. “Personalized medicine” is not limited to pharmaceutical therapy. Advances in computational power and medical imaging are paving the way for personalized medical treatments that consider a patient’s genetic, anatomical, and physiological characteristics. Though we are at the peaks of medical knowledge, still we have a long way to

Every living thing is the product of the genes that were passed down from ancestors. Genes make up everything we are. One gets their traits from their parents. Most people live full lives with relatively good health. However, some people inherit mutated genes or faulty genes. This could lead to genetic disorders that could be life threatening. Even today, many genetic disorders still remain incurable, leaving many people without hope. Genetic therapy could be their answer. It is through this research that the cure for genetic disorders can be found. Though some people believe it is unethical or immoral to alter genes, current therapeutics have not been able to save the lives of the patients with these diseases. Genetic therapy