Perceptions of Nigerian medical students regarding their preparedness for precision medicine: a cross-sectional survey in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Advances in precision medicine in Nigeria suggest improving genomics education and competency among healthcare practitioners to facilitate clinical translation. Due to the scarcity of research in this area, this study aimed to assess Nigerian medical students' perceptions about their preparedness to integrate precision medicine into their future clinical practice.

Methods: This was an institution-based cross-sectional study of medicine and surgery students in their clinical years attending the two fully accredited colleges of medicine in Lagos, Nigeria, between April and October 2022 using an adapted tool administered via Google Forms. The survey assessed their awareness, perceptions about knowledge, ability, and attitudes toward precision medicine, ethical concerns, and perceptions about their education in precision medicine. Multivariate linear regression models were used to assess factors associated with students' perceptions of their knowledge, ability, and attitudes.

Results: A total of 300 students completed the questionnaires with a response rate of 40%. Awareness of genomic medicine terminology was high (92.0%). Responses to knowledge and ability questions revealed notable gaps, however, respondents had positive attitude scores overall. Higher medical school year was independently associated with lower knowledge (p_trend = 0.003) and ability (p_trend = 0.005) scores, and knowledge score was independently associated with a higher ability score (β: 0.76 95%CI: 0.67, 0.84; p < 0.001). Attitude scores significantly increased with increasing medical school year (p_trend = 0.04). The respondents mostly indicated concerns about government and corporate bodies' misuse of genomic data (35.7%) and the widening of socioeconomic disparities (34.0%). Although 65.0% of the respondents thought it important to learn about precision medicine, only 11.3% felt that their education had adequately prepared them for precision medicine, knew who to ask questions regarding genomic testing (10.7%), and felt their professors had encouraged the use of precision medicine (10.3%).

Conclusion: Despite high awareness of precision medicine terminology and overall positive attitudes, our findings highlight gaps in knowledge and ability to integrate genomics into the care of patients and a need to improve precision medicine education among Nigerian medical students.

Keywords: Medical education; Medical genomics; Nigeria.; Precision medicine.