In a move that expands the scope of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC)’s educational initiatives, the Coalition is pleased to release this morning a new infographic encouraging patients to consider 22 questions about personalized medicine when they are conversing with health care professionals. By prompting patients to ask their physicians about molecularly targeted treatments as well as the ways in which various medical interventions may alter their lives and routines, the infographic, titled More Than a Number: Better Health Begins With You, is designed to advance a paradigm in which prevention and treatment plans are tailored more closely to each patient’s biological characteristics, circumstances, and values.
Like the Coalition’s Consumer’s Guide to Genetic Health Testing, the infographic will help meet the need for education about the tests and treatments underpinning personalized medicine. Educational efforts emerged as a top priority for patients during a roundtable PMC organized during the lunch break of last year’s 15th Annual Personalized Medicine Conference at Harvard Medical School and during the Coalition’s discussions with the patients whose perspectives informed the development of its recently released patient-centered research agenda for personalized medicine.
The infographic introduces the concept of personalized medicine and includes a list of questions for patients to ask during six key stages of their interactions with the health care system, beginning with the selection of a physician and ending with their possible adjustment to long-term care routines. It also includes a description of the “Ins and Outs of Insurance Coverage” in the United States.
“By encouraging patients to ask questions about personalized medicine during their interactions with physicians and other health care professionals, the More Than a Number infographic, like PMC’s other educational initiatives, will accelerate the pace at which the patient-centered principles of personalized medicine are incorporated into clinical decision-making,” said PMC President Edward Abrahams.
