Pharmacies, long regarded as essential pillars of the healthcare system, often face challenges like long queues, inefficiencies, and slow processes that frustrate both patients and pharmacists. Despite significant advancements in medical technology, many pharmacies continue to rely on outdated methods for tasks such as prescription filling, inventory management, and patient care.
This stagnation not only affects operational efficiency but can also negatively impact patient outcomes. Errors and delays in medication dispensing can lead to serious health risks. To overcome these challenges, transforming pharmacies through AI is crucial. AI offers a powerful solution to streamline operations, improve medication safety, and enhance personalised care.
In this article, we’ll explore how AI is optimising pharmacy operations, from improving inventory management to ensuring prescription accuracy. We will also look at emerging innovations like digital twins and 3D printing of medications, which hold the potential to further personalise and streamline pharmaceutical care in the future.
Medication Management
AI is poised to revolutionise medication management, with some experts considering it one of the most impactful ways the technology could transform pharmacy practice. According to an article in Pharmacy Times, AI can assist pharmacists in managing medication inventory, predicting medication demand, and identifying potential drug interactions or adverse reactions. Additionally, AI can help address medication affordability by analysing non-preferred drugs available to patients through their pharmacy benefits. The article highlights that, given the time constraints pharmacists face, these critical assessments are often overlooked in the current pharmacy environment.
Emails/Texts
Many pharmacies are already leveraging automated emails and text messaging powered by AI. These systems can be programmed to automatically send notifications when medications need refilling or when prescriptions are ready for pickup. AI algorithms can also segment patients based on specific characteristics, allowing pharmacies to send targeted, relevant information. For example, patients with diabetes could receive links to educational articles, while those in need of certain vaccines could be alerted about upcoming immunisation clinics, complete with easy scheduling links.
Patient Monitoring
One of the most significant benefits of AI in pharmacy practice is the ability to provide pharmacists with enhanced visibility into patients’ health and treatment plans. With AI, pharmacists gain deeper insights into patient data, enabling them to make more informed decisions about medications and treatment options. Moreover, AI facilitates better collaboration with other healthcare team members, ensuring a more integrated and holistic approach to patient care.
Medication Adherence
AI has the potential to be a game-changer in tackling the critical issue of medication non-adherence. According to Pharmacy Times, “By analysing patient data, including prescription records and refill patterns, AI can identify usage trends and flag individuals at higher risk of non-adherence.” This insight allows pharmacists to initiate more meaningful conversations with patients about the importance of taking their medications as prescribed, ultimately improving adherence and patient outcomes.
Revenue Opportunities
AI also opens up new revenue opportunities for pharmacies. For example, it can identify groups of patients who would benefit from specific immunisations, which pharmacies can offer directly. In addition to immunisations, AI can help pharmacies pinpoint opportunities for other clinical services. Patients with chronic conditions like hypertension might be flagged as candidates for blood pressure clinics, while smokers could be directed to smoking cessation programs, and overweight patients might receive information about diet or wellness programs.
The Future of AI in Pharmacy
Artificial intelligence is rapidly emerging as a transformative force, helping pharmacies achieve higher levels of operational efficiency and patient care. While the solutions discussed in this article are already beneficial, they likely represent just the beginning of AI’s potential in the pharmacy industry. Not too long ago, it would have seemed unimaginable for technology to automate the dispensing process, but today, it’s a reality.
As technology continues to advance, AI will become an even more integral part of pharmacy practice.