Entry Details

About the Entry

Category: 
All Content > Technology & Innovation Reporting > Northeast

Title of entry: 
Opportunities and Pitfalls for AI in Pharmacy

Issue or Publication date:
May 2023; November 2023; Dec 5, 2023

Publication name: 
Pharmacy Practice News

Publishing/parent company: 
McMahon Group

View Website home page:
www.pharmacypracticenews.com

Description of the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining traction within the healthcare sphere, and pharmacy is no exception. We feel the growing prevalence of AI is filled with both opportunities and pitfalls that the health-system pharmacists who read Pharmacy Practice News need to know. The stories in this entry highlight three applications for AI, which demonstrate varying degrees of clinical readiness.

“Rise of the Machines Against Drug Diversion” discusses how health systems are already using AI to prevent controlled medications from being channeled from their intended patients for illicit use. Surveillance software can evaluate data from multiple sources in a facility (such as electronic health records and patient pain scores) to detect suspicious patterns. Our story showcases how one health system implemented diversion prevention software and what readers can learn from their experience. The article is filled with actionable tips for getting started with diversion preventing software, as well as caveats. AI is not a silver bullet, but it can help investigators tackle drug diversion more efficiently—and pharmacists play a crucial role in this multidisciplinary undertaking.

“Harnessing the Power of AI To Optimize Drug Therapy” explores how AI can help pharmacists minimize adverse drug reactions (a leading cause of death worldwide) and select the best treatment for a given patient. We spoke with pharmacist-researchers who are investigating how AI can predict which patient might benefit from a medication, and which face heightened risks of negative outcomes. One team reported that AI could identify Medicare beneficiaries at high risk for opioid overdose, while another is developing an algorithm that determines a hospitalized patient’s likelihood of suffering medication-related kidney damage. Despite its potential, however, this application of AI is still in the early stages of implementation. Our sources outlined several hurdles to overcome, including the need to train algorithms on diverse data and avoid worsening existing biases in the healthcare system. They also stressed that pharmacists, with their knowledge of medications, are key players in applying AI to clinical practice. It’s vital for pharmacists to educate themselves on the strengths and limitations of AI so they can contribute to the development process of algorithms that will improve medication safety at their institutions.

“ChatGPT Not Ready for Prime Time for Medication Queries” focuses on one area where AI currently does not shine. We reported on research presented at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists annual conference demonstrating that the chatbot ChatGPT often answers medication-related questions incorrectly. The chatbot returned answers that were frequently inaccurate and laced with made-up supporting references. In one harrowing example, ChatGPT failed to identify a dangerous drug interaction between the COVID-19 medication Paxlovid and a blood-pressure medication. The article raises a red flag for our readers, showing the need to be cautious about relying on ChatGPT as a source of medication information. It also identifies open-source medical information tools as a potential alterative for pharmacists to keep an eye on.

We will continue to cover this important innovation for our readers.

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Entry URL(s), if applicable:
Please enter a URL that will direct judges to the entry: 
https://www.pharmacypracticenews.com/Pharmacy-Technology-Report/Article/11-23/Harnessing-the-Power-of-AI-To-Optimize-Drug-Therapy/71904
Additional URLs, if needed:
https://www.pharmacypracticenews.com/Policy/Article/05-23/Rise-of-the-Machines-Against-Drug-Diversion/70254
https://www.pharmacypracticenews.com/Pharmacy-Technology-Report/Article/12-23/ChatGPT-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-for-Medication-Queries/72307

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