A National Research Council report on “precision medicine” explains that the term “refers to the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient.” The report goes on to say, “It should be emphasized that in ‘precision medicine’ the word ‘precision’ is being used in a colloquial sense, to mean both ‘accurate’ and ‘precise.’”1 In the colloquial sense, “precision” also implies a high degree of certainty
of an outcome, as in “precision-guided missile” or “at what precise time will you arrive?” So will precision medicine usher in an age of diagnostic and prognostic certainty?
In fact, the opposite will probably result. The new tools for tailoring treatment will demand a greater tolerance of uncertainty and greater facility for calculating and interpreting probabilities than we have been used to as physicians and patients.

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