• Antonio Addis, Francesco Trotta, Giovanni Tafuri, and Luca De Fiore.
• Dipartimento di Epidemiologia del Servizio Sanitario Regionale, Regione Lazio, Rome, Italy.
• Ann. Ist. Super. Sanita. 2018 Oct 1; 54 (4): 316-323.

BackgroundDespite advances in technology development for precision medicine, obstacles remain as barriers to progress and change. In this context simple questions arise: what is the level of understanding of precision medicine among healthcare professionals? We tried to address this question with a survey whose objective was to explore the perception and understanding of precision medicine.MethodsA questionnaire was administered to a sample made of oncologists, clinical and hospital pharmacists, pharmacologists and infectiologists in the context of five different Italian national congresses. Participation in the survey was voluntary and anonymous.ResultsThe questionnaire was filled-in by a total number of 1113 professionals out of 3670 registered participants in the congresses. About half of respondents stated they were not sufficiently informed about precision medicine, and infectiologists were the ones who felt less informed. Most respondents agreed with the basic principles and definitions of precision medicine and believed this new approach is going to require deep changes in healthcare.ConclusionsOur findings show that healthcare professionals have partial knowledge on this topic and that there is a significant association between respondents' knowledge and their clinical specialty. However, despite some misconceptions about precision medicine, a genuine interest and familiarity with its basic principles seems to emerge.

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