There has been an increase in public and professional interests in personalised medicine through genetic and genome-level diagnostic and predictive testing within the healthcare industry. These tools enable improved clinical management, disease risk evaluation, prevention of major complications and offer the prospect of improved prognosis. This has undoubtedly led to a rising interest around genomic medicine and postgraduate programmes based on this speciality.
Our Postgraduate Diploma in Genomic Medicine and Healthcare provides an integrated approach to this interesting subject and will focus on applying scientific principles to direct patient care.
If you’re interested in studying this speciality, this blog will give you all the information you need, including the key benefits of choosing this career path and the main reasons to study our world-leading online Postgraduate Diploma in Genomic Medicine and Healthcare.
1. Improve Patient Care
A core benefit of studying this field of work is that you will have the skills and knowledge necessary to improve patient care through personalised treatment, rather than the usual 'one size fits all' approach.
Early disease detection
Personalised medicine gives us the ability to detect diseases early. It provides the option for reproductive choices and reducing lifetime medical or health risks. For example, prenatal tests that take place during pregnancy - either to screen or where there is already a family history. This helps the parents to make informed choices and plans for the future.
Determine risk of developing disease
Someone's genetic makeup can also show their susceptibility to suffer certain illnesses, like cancer, heart disease or stroke. Understanding this information means individuals can manage the risk through medical intervention, medication or simply making positive lifestyle changes.
Accurate diagnosis
Typically a patient's diagnosis is made based on their symptoms, and although certain symptoms may be similar among patients, this doesn't necessarily mean the cause is the same. Precision medicine gives healthcare professionals the ability to undertake a more granular investigation into individual patients making their diagnosis much more precise.
Effective treatment
Precision medicine takes into account that diseases can have many different forms, and that these diseases will not only vary between patients, but also in individual patients throughout the course of their lives. Using a personalised approach, each patient has medicines and treatment tailored to them and their individual needs and risks. Treatment that is tailored to match an individual’s makeup so it is more effective and has fewer side-effects.
2. Potential to Make Diagnosis of Disease a More Efficient and Cost-Effective Process
Genomic medicine has the potential to make genetic diagnosis of disease a more efficient and cost-effective process, by reducing genetic testing to a single analysis, which then informs individuals throughout life.
For patients with a rare disease, the systematic application of genomic technologies can completely transform their lives by enabling a quicker diagnosis, rather than years of uncertainty, often referred to in rare disease as the ‘diagnostic odyssey’. Early diagnosis of a disease can therefore significantly increase the chances of successful treatment, and genomics can detect a disease long before symptoms present themselves.
3. It is the Future of Healthcare
It is inevitable that personalised medicine will be introduced into mainstream healthcare. Genomic medicine is evolving and rapid advances in genomics are revolutionising the practice of modern medicine and healthcare and as such, health and medical services around the world are preparing their work forces for genomics integration.
The rapid increase in the ageing population, accelerating costs of healthcare, and the growing burden of chronic disease present major challenges to health systems worldwide. As a result, the UK government has recently announced its investment in a project, to be run by Genomics England, to sequence the genome of 100,000 patients over 5 years and to introduce genomic technology into its mainstream health system.
4. Career Benefits
Completing a Diploma in Genomic Medicine and Healthcare could also help you in your career journey. It will enable you to increase your knowledge in the field, improving your career prospects and potentially your income.
If you have aspirations to complete a PhD, the usual first step is to have a relevant undergraduate degree completed to a sufficiently high enough quality. You will then need to complete a postgraduate degree, usually a master’s. Our PgDip is a great next step that will allow you to seamlessly progress onto the MSc when you are ready.
5. Affordable and flexible learning with Learna
Our Postgraduate Diploma is incredibly flexible, allowing students to further their education with minimal impact on their current lifestyle. Students are given the freedom to study at their own convenience, which means they can learn anytime and anywhere.
With competitive prices and an option to pay in interest free instalments, we are on a mission to improve healthcare worldwide through accessible and affordable education.
About our Genomic Medicine and Healthcare Postgraduate Diploma
Our online Diploma in Genomic Medicine and Healthcare allows you to study for just one calendar year and is a part-time, distance-learning course. The course is worth 120 credits and comprises six modules of 20 credits, each running over a period of six weeks. You can find details of all six modules here.
On completion of our Postgraduate Diploma in Genomic Medicine and Healthcare, you will demonstrate:
- An ability to deliver management strategies for the investigation and treatment of patients with inherited human diseases.
- A systematic understanding of genetics and genomic factors in human diseases.
- An advanced knowledge of clinical genomics that will facilitate decision-making in unpredictable and/or complex situations.
- An ability to deliver management strategies for the investigation and treatment of patients with inherited human diseases.
Applications for our next intake are open and you can apply for our Diploma in Genomic Medicine and Healthcare now.