Tool Kit for Bioinformatics

The healthcare sector has been transformed positively with the use of technological advancements. Bioinformatics played a major role in bringing this change. Utilizing technology to gather, store, analyze, and interpret biological data is bioinformatics which improves the treatment of patients (Harbola et al., 2022). It also enables healthcare providers to make early and adequate decisions (Timmis, 2021). Genome data study in bioinformatics can be examined to create improvements in cancer treatment. The genetic sequence technique will assist healthcare providers in diagnosing cancerous tumors in patients (Zhou et al., 2022).

Evidence-Based Policy, Guidelines, and Practical Recommendations

According to Orsini et al. (2023), bioinformatics helps healthcare providers in enhancing the results of patient treatment. However, it is important to adhere to the practice standards of using bioinformatics in healthcare organizations. Bioinformatics requires the need for evidence-based practice to find a solution to enhance the treatment of patients. Security and privacy of patients’ information should be prioritized with the use of bioinformatics. Such guidelines help increase the chances of training all healthcare providers on the use of bioinformatics (Basil et al., 2022). American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) gives guidelines for using bioinformatics, including prospective drug targets and patient data analysis (Panagiotou et al., 2020). Genetic study, bioinformatics tools, and training for healthcare professionals are some other ethical standards. Furthermore, the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) is a method through which healthcare practitioners can come up with new therapeutic approaches to manage diseases that may be prevalent among individuals (Taheri et al., 2022).

Example of Implementation

Bioinformatics enables healthcare providers to analyze the genes of the tumors to plan the treatment of the cancer patient. Pleasance et al., (2020) compared the genetic information of patients with cancer and it was found that patients who had targeted therapy had better treatment outcomes. Analyzing patient information helps to determine the type of cancer a patient has to develop tailored treatment plans that enhance their well-being. 

Legal and Ethical Ramification

When employing bioinformatics, the focus should be placed on patient care, protection, and confidentiality of their data. Some ethical practice standards for using bioinformatics are as follows:

Privacy and Security

Analyzing, storing, and accessing patients’ health data is easier with the use of bioinformatics. Legal policies such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) allow the use of bioinformatics while protecting patient’s security and privacy (Thomson & Arthur, 2022). Ensuring patient’s sensitive data security and privacy is important so that data is protected from privacy breaches. 

Informed Consent

Analyzing genomic data of patients with the use of bioinformatics is important for providing improved patient health outcomes and life quality. Informed consent must be obtained from patients before accessing their sensitive genomic data (Byrd et al., 2020). Healthcare providers need to access the risks and benefits of bioinformatics usage and must be provided to patients so that both parties can make better-informed decisions. 

Equity and Access

It may be possible that already existing health disparities increase by using bioinformatics because it can provide privilege to one population over the other. That is why, healthcare providers need to ensure that utilizing bioinformatics enhances the ability to provide equal healthcare services for all patients no matter their race, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or other factors (Behl et al., 2021). 

Responsible and Accountable Use of Data

Bioinformatics allows access to data in a responsible and accountable manner which is why it is important to ensure secure use of patient’s sensitive data (Thomson & Arthur, 2022). To use data, areas of responsibility must be identified. 

Data Collection

Reliable data collection methods should be used by healthcare providers when examining sensitive genetic data of patients. This means that the procedure used for collecting patients’ data must be according to ethical standards (Bonomi et al., 2020). Informed consent from patients and maintaining their confidentiality is one example of ethical data collection. 

Data Storage

Healthcare providers are responsible for protecting and storing data patient’s sensitive data. For this purpose, efficient security measures need to be implemented such as providing authorization of data to selected people. 

Data Analysis

The responsibility of accessing patient data in an accountable manner is on the healthcare institutions. For this purpose, healthcare organizations implement ethical and legal standards for analyzing and interpreting patient data (Thomson & Arthur, 2022). Moreover, it also ensures that data is aligned with evidence-based medication standards. 

Data Sharing

Sharing data comes with many potential risks because privacy can be breached or errors can be made. Healthcare organizations ensure the secure transfer of data by only allowing authorized people to access the data. Informed consent is also obtained from patients so that they can make autonomous decisions regarding access to their information (Thomson & Arthur, 2022). 

Data Governance

Policies that govern patient data access and usage are developed by healthcare institutions. They ensure that ethical and legal standards are met while accessing data. Healthcare providers authorized to access and use patient’s data must be well-trained in using bioinformatics. Healthcare organizations must first identify the areas of responsibility and then develop policies that address all the identified areas to ensure accountable and responsible use of data with bioinformatics (Thomson & Arthur, 2022). To develop the policies, stakeholders, nurses, healthcare providers, and legal experts must collaborate. Regular monitoring of updated data should also be conducted to ensure policies are aligned with ethical practice standards. 

Conclusion

The use of technology-based tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data is known as bioinformatics which is widely used in healthcare organizations now. It brings numerous benefits to the healthcare system such as improving customized treatment for cancer patients and improved diagnosis and treatment interventions. However, utilizing bioinformatics requires alignment with ethical and legal practice standards to ensure patients’ privacy, confidentiality, and autonomy. Using bioinformatics requires the protection and security of patient data. For this purpose, it is important to develop policies for informed consent, responsible use of data, and data sharing. Healthcare organizations can enhance patient treatment results, and resource utilization, and make better-informed decisions for patients using bioinformatics. 

References

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Behl, T., Kaur, I., Sehgal, A., Singh, S., Bhatia, S., Al-Harrasi, A., Zengin, G., Babes, E. E., Brisc, C., Stoicescu, M., Toma, M. M., Sava, C., & Bungau, S. G. (2021). Bioinformatics Accelerates the major tetrad: a real boost for the pharmaceutical industry. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(12), 6184. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22126184 

Bonomi, L., Huang, Y., & Ohno-Machado, L. (2020). Privacy challenges and research opportunities for genomic data sharing. Nature Genetics, 52(7), 646–654. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-020-0651-0 

Byrd, J. B., Greene, A. C., Prasad, D. V., Jiang, X., & Greene, C. S. (2020). Responsible, practical genomic data sharing that accelerates research. Nature Reviews Genetics, 21(10), 615–629. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-020-0257-5 

Harbola, A., Negi, D., Manchanda, M., & Kesharwani, R. K. (2022). Bioinformatics and biological data mining. Bioinformatics, 457-471. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-89775-4.00019-5

Orsini, A., Diquigiovanni, C., & Bonora, E. (2023). Omics technologies improving breast cancer research and diagnostics. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(16), 12690. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241612690 

Panagiotou, O. A., Högg, L. H., Hricak, H., Khleif, S. N., Levy, M. A., Magnus, D., Murphy, M. J., Patel, B., Winn, R. A., Nass, S. J., Gatsonis, C., & Cogle, C. R. (2020). Clinical application of computational methods in precision oncology. JAMA Oncology, 6(8), 1282. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2020.1247 

Pleasance, E., Titmuss, E., Williamson, L., Kwan, H., Culibrk, L., Zhao, E. Y., Dixon, K., Fan, K., Bowlby, R., Jones, M. R., Shen, Y., Grewal, J. K., Ashkani, J., Wee, K., Grisdale, C. J., Thibodeau, M. L., Bozoky, Z., Pearson, H., Majounie, E., & Vira, T. (2020). Pan-cancer analysis of advanced patient tumors reveals interactions between therapy and genomic landscapes. Nature Cancer, 1(4), 452–468. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-020-0050-6 

Taheri, F., Frenzel, M., Ebrahimi, P., Negar Sarhangi, Mandana Hasanzad, & Amoli, M. M. (2022). Precision Medicine Initiatives. 151–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5082-7_9 

Thomson, L. L., & Arthur E. J. (2022). Privacy and security challenges in bioinformatics. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781839105951/book-part-9781839105951-21.xml 

Timmis, J. K. (2021). Improving healthcare innovation and decision-making by extensive stakeholder involvement. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/improving-healthcare-innovation-and-decision-making-by-extensive- 

Zhou, S., Liu, S., Zhao, L., & Sun, H.-X. (2022). A comprehensive survey of genomic mutations in breast cancer reveals recurrent neoantigens as potential therapeutic targets. Frontiers in Oncology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2022.786438