Pharmacogenetics and Practice: Tailoring Prescribing for Safety and Effectiveness

Abstract Precision medicine involves using information on the effect of DNA sequence variations, together with environmental and lifestyle exposures, to improve disease prevention and treatment. Advanced practice nurses can enhance patient outcomes by adopting a precision medicine approach to patient care, which includes effective implementation of pharmacogenetic test results. However, lack of familiarity with genetic test results is often a barrier to its implementation. To aid advanced practice nurses in the interpretation and application of the test results in patient care, this discussion illustrates the benefit of pharmacogenetic testing through a case-based learning mechanism.