Integrating precision medicine into medical education: What does it add?

Abstract

As the branch of medicine continues to evolve, it is our utmost responsibility to stay abreast with the recent developments and incorporate the same while training medical students. Precision medicine is a novel approach to health-care delivery that acknowledges the role of patients’ genes, environments, and lifestyles regarding each person. The rationale for moving in this direction can be attributed to two major factors, namely, the advances reported in the domain of health care and science, and the limitations that have been linked with the conventional approach of one-size-fits-all, which is not appropriate in the health sector. Precision medicine inclusion in the medical curriculum is the need of the hour, as it is bound to influence the clinical decision-making process by medical doctors, which eventually will improve health-related outcomes. In conclusion, the integration of precision medicine into medical education is expected to change the face of health-care delivery from a global perspective. As medical education embraces this evidence-driven approach, we have started our journey to move toward a future where we will not be happy with just standardization of health-care services, rather we will ensure that it becomes customized to the unique needs and characteristics of individual patients. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Medical knowledge, Patient care, and Practice-based learning and improvement.