| dc.description.abstract | As a leading cause of disability worldwide, depression is considered a chronic disease. Medication management is the first-line treatment for moderate to severe major depressive disorder. Medications are selected based on provider experience and preference with a trial-and- error” approach. These medications may take several weeks to reach therapeutic dosing. If it is not tolerated or ineffective for treating the disease, then the medication regimen is changed, requiring a minimum of 4-6 weeks to determine efficacy. This trial-and-error approach to depression treatment can lead to patients living with persistently debilitating depressive symptoms for months, increased healthcare costs due to continued need to seek medical follow-up, or patients discontinuing care due to lack of efficacy early in treatment attempts.
In a post-market release study regarding the efficacy of antidepressant use, results indicated that 11% of the United States population takes an antidepressant. Depressed patients that do not benefit from the first antidepressant they are prescribed is 60% (Alemi et al., 2021). Pharmacogenomic testing (PGT) is beneficial in disease management by determining individual genotype responses to specific medications. Incorporating PGT into routine care for depression can lessen the time it takes to reach disease remission as well as avoid any adverse medication effects. Despite the known benefits of PGT, it continues to have a slow adoption rate in clinical practice.
Nurse Practitioners (NPs) surveyed aided the co-investigator in assessing current rates of NPs utilizing PGT as well as identifying barriers to use. Understanding limits for using PGT can contribute to developing targeted education in hopes of enhancing the uptake of PGT for managing depression into routine clinical practice. use. Understanding limits for using PGT can contribute to developing targeted education in hopes of enhancing the uptake of PGT for managing depression into routine clinical practice. | en_US |
