Recently with the pandemic healthcare has taken a different approach to in person treatments whether it is at a doctors office, massage therapist or dentist. Zoom type calls and actual phone calls have become the new norm. In a recent article from CBC Health (2020) discussion on patient satisfaction with phone calls by phone or video conference included not having to waste time driving and parking. These calls got right to the point and patients got on with their day. This allows the doctor to focus on the patient and their needs; more personalized healthcare. However in the larger picture complete personalized health care can never fully exist. As individuals we are so unique due to our DNA that research currently would not be able to preform a true control trial with one person. There would be too much bias. Preforming randomized control trials to get to the root cause for all people is best; this will allow us to help save many more people at a time. I am cautiously optimistic with the Princess Margaret Hospital’s recent clinical trials with personalized cancer treatment; however there is still more research to be done before we will have a process to follow to provide this. Nevertheless as a society we also need to consider cost. As a proud Canadian we have access to free healthcare however this is paid for by taxes and where do we draw the line for cost to keep our taxes lower. At the same time if someone can pay for it do we allow 2 tier healthcare; another equality issue for people of colour and other marginalized people.
Nursing Care in personalized medicine/healthcare
As nurses our therapeutic relationship is based on treating the patient as their diagnosis from a personalize perspective; this will never change. What nurses need to focus on is the information behind genetic screenings; this is a complicated field for healthcare professionals let alone “regular” people. Recently in an article published by Holton, Canary and Wong (2016) conducted a survey with obstetricians and gynecologists and found that only 33% were comfortable counseling patients about screening for genetic diseases and disorders they may pass down to their children (Holdton et al, 2016). Genetics is still a very unknown field and a lot of information is still needed before any of us in healthcare can really use their information to offer personalized healthcare.
References
Adhopia, V., & Glanz, M. (2020, 05 06). Pandemic shows power of doctor’s phone call to provide care Social Sharing (Article) https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/virtual-care-covid-1.5556863
Holton, A. E., Canary, H. E., & Wong, B. (2017). Business and breakthrough: Framing (expanded) genetic carrier screening for the public. Health Communitin, 32(9). doi:10.1080/10410236.2016.1196515
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