Aim: The use of genetic information to guide a patient's drug therapy will have a great influence on clinical practice within healthcare. However, despite the prospective benefits of pharmacogenetic testing, little is known regarding what clinicians actually think about this promising technology. The purpose of this study was to assess attitudes towards pharmacogenetic testing not previously highlighted within a larger study on clinicians' knowledge and attitudes about pharmacogenetic testing conducted by an interdisciplinary group of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Materials & methods: The sample included 184 responses to an open-ended question. A thematic analysis of these responses was completed.
Results: The thematic analysis identified several themes that were not previously delineated within the original study. The analysis uncovered five additional themes including: application concerns, lack of successful integration, accessibility, potential harm and optimism.
Conclusion: Future research on the assessment of attitudes of clinicians concerning pharmacogenomics should incorporate these themes. In addition, educational activities conveying knowledge concerning pharmacogenomics needs to become readily available to healthcare providers. Finally, a study that addresses any disparity related to pharmacogenomics needs to be undertaken.
Keywords: attitudes; clinicians; healthcare professionals; pharmacogenomics; thematic analysis.