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. 2024 May 19;8(Suppl 1):S5-S16.
doi: 10.1002/aet2.10983. eCollection 2024 May.

Precision medicine within health professions education: Defining a research agenda for emergency medicine using a foresight and strategy technique (FaST) review

Teresa M Chan  1   2 , Brent Thoma  1   3 , John T Finnell  4 , Bradley D Gordon  5   6 , Susan Farrell  7 , Martin Pusic  8 , Daniel Cabrera  9 , Michael A Gisondi  10 , Holly A Caretta-Weyer  11 , Christopher Stave  12 , Felix Ankel  5   6
Affiliations

Precision medicine within health professions education: Defining a research agenda for emergency medicine using a foresight and strategy technique (FaST) review

Teresa M Chan et al. AEM Educ Train. .

Abstract

Background: Precision medicine, sometimes referred to as personalized medicine, is rapidly changing the possibilities for how people will engage health care in the near future. As technology to support precision medicine exponentially develops, there is an urgent need to proactively improve our understanding of precision medicine and pose important research questions (RQs) related to its inclusion in the education and training of future emergency physicians.

Methods: A seven-step process was employed to develop a research agenda exploring the intersection of precision and emergency medicine education/training. A literature search of articles about precision medicine was conducted first, which informed the creation of future four scenarios in which trainees and practicing physicians regularly discuss and incorporate precision medicine tools into their discussions and work. Based on these futurist narratives, potential education RQs were generated by an expert panel. A total of 59 initial questions were subsequently categorized and refined to a priority list through a nominal group voting method. The top/priority questions were presented at the 2023 SAEM Consensus Conference on Precision Medicine, Austin, Texas, for further input.

Results: Eight high-value education RQs were developed, reflecting a holistic view of the challenges and opportunities for precision medicine education in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes relevant to emergency medicine. These questions contend with topics such as most effective pedagogical methods; intended resulting outcomes and behaviors; the generational differences between practicing emergency physicians, educators, and future trainees; and the desires and expectations of patients.

Conclusions: Emergency medicine and emergency physicians must be prepared to understand precision medicine and incorporate this information into their "toolbox" of thinking, problem solving, and communication with patients and colleagues. This research agenda on how best to educate future emergency physicians in the use of personalized data to provide optimal health care is the focus of this article.

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Conflict of interest statement

T. Chan reports salary from Toronto Metropolitan University for her role as Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice President Medical Affairs. During the time of the conduct of this research, she also received travel funding from her work with the McMaster Education Research, Innovation, and Theory (MERIT) group and teaching stipends for from the Office of Continuing Professional Development. She also discloses that in the past three years she has received various unrelated research grants, teaching honoraria, and speakership fees from academic institutions (Harvard Medical School, International Association of Medical Sciences Educators, Ontario College of Family Physicians), physician organizations (Association of American Medical Colleges, Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Medical Council of Canada), and governmental sources (Government of Ontario, Virtual Learning Strategy eCampus Ontario program). D. Cabrera reports funding from Diagnostic Robotics (Israel), Quai.md (Israel), and Osler Diagnostics (UK). B. Thoma reports salary from Toronto Metropolitan University for his role as Interim Associate Dean of Postgraduate Medical Education within the School of Medicine. He is also a clinician‐educator for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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