A Survey Exploring Personalised Medicine amongst Radiography Academics within the United Kingdom

This article explores the application of personalized medicine (PM) within the academic environment in the United Kingdom. There is a growing acceptance of the utility of PM in health care and the role medical imaging can play. In response, this article explored the views and opinions of diagnostic and therapeutic academics and the utilization of PM in education. This study primarily adopted a quantitative approach using an online survey. However, participants were also encouraged to provide qualitative comments in response to open-ended questions. The survey was distributed to radiography and radiotherapy academic departments, which received a response rate of 29%. The findings identify some important considerations. On the one hand some participants reported teaching PM on their programmes (24%, n = 16), whereas 30% (n = 20) did not. Importantly, the remaining academics (46%) were either unsure or did not know what PM was. This finding, coincided with qualitative commentary, highlights some discrepancies linked to knowledge and understanding of PM within higher education and highlights areas where academics may need additional support. This article concludes by recognizing the challenges of delivering PM by some academics. It is noted that although the findings cannot be fully generalized, it does highlight fragmented understanding of PM among academic staff. This is important to reflect upon following the increasing requirements for radiography to become “more personalized.” Cet article explore l'application de la médecine spécialisée (MP) dans le contexte universitaire au Royaume-Uni. L'utilité de la MP dans les soins de santé et le rôle que peut y jouer l'imagerie médicale sont de plus en plus reconnus. En réponse, cet article examine les vues et les opinions d'universitaires spécialisés en diagnostic et en thérapie ainsi que l'utilisation de la MP dans l'enseignement. Dans cette étude, les auteurs ont principalement adopté une approche quantitative, en utilisant un sondage en ligne. Les participants ont cependant été encouragés aussi à fournir des commentaires qualitatifs en réponse à des questions ouvertes. Le sondage a été distribué dans les départements universitaires de radiographie et de radiothérapie, et le taux de réponse a été de 29 %. Les résultats ont permis d'arriver à des considérations importantes. D'un côté, certains répondants indiquent que la MP est enseigne dans leurs programmes (24 %, n = 16), tandis que 30% (n = 20) ne le font pas.