ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the importance of ethical considerations in relationship to the upcoming medical trend of precision medicine, which aims to improve patient health outcome and enhance healthcare delivery efficiency. While precision medicine is best recognized as an evolution of traditional medical practice through employment of patient stratification and genetic risk factors, it is also essentially that precision medicine practice does not abandon previously successful population health strategies and the historic emphases of traditional medicine on the importance of the physician-patient relationship and whole patient care. Significant attention will need to be given to examine the ethical, legal, and social implications, as public involvement in precision medicine gains momentum via broader patient participation. In addition, proper regulatory and professional mechanisms for insuring appropriate patient protections, privacy, and informed models of consent, and research authorization. In addition, both undergraduate medical education and continuing medical education will also need to evolve to accommodate emerging demands of technical competencies needed for the deployment of precision medicine.
