Aim: To explore primary care physicians' views of the utility and delivery of direct access to pharmacogenomics (PGx) testing in a community health system.
Methods: This descriptive study assessed the perspectives of 15 healthcare providers utilizing qualitative individual interviews.
Results: Three main themes emerged: perceived value and utility of PGx testing; challenges to implementation in practice; and provider as well as patient needs.
Conclusion: While providers in this study viewed benefits of PGx testing as avoiding side effects, titrating doses more quickly, improving shared decision-making and providing psychological reassurance, challenges will need to be addressed such as privacy concerns, cost, insurance coverage and understanding the complexity of PGx test results.
Keywords: clinical implementation; clinical utility; personalized medicine; pharmacogenetics; pharmacogenomic testing; pharmacogenomics; primary care physicians; qualitative research.