Embracing the role of artificial intelligence in the medication-use process

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI)—the use of computer systems to perform tasks that would normally require human cognition1—has become ubiquitous in 21st-century society, including extensive deployment in healthcare. By some projections, the public- and private-sector investments in AI in healthcare will reach $6.6 billion by 2021,2 with AI applications in clinical settings ranging from the automation of the differential diagnosis to health-system operations. Given the rapid implementation of AI in healthcare and the potential for its expanded use in the medication-use process, this issue of AJHP includes a timely and necessary ASHP Statement on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacy.3 This statement envisions the role of pharmacy departments, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians in the use of AI in patient care and optimizing medication use. With the Statement on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacy, ASHP seeks to influence AI development to ensure that patients benefit from the use of this technology while minimizing unintended consequences and errors. The ASHP statement addresses several essential domains that require the engagement of pharmacists, including determination of which areas of the medication-use process would benefit from the use of AI, a determination of which AI approaches (ie, supervised, unsupervised, or reinforcement learning) are most appropriate for the tasks under consideration, and evaluation of AI, including development of clinical validation standards. In addition, the statement also calls for health systems to develop AI integration roadmaps as they undertake strategic planning. Accordingly, pharmacists should also assume a leadership role in these planning processes to ensure that AI is integrated appropriately into the medication-use process. Given the rapidly changing nature of technology in general, and AI specifically, an ASHP statement of this nature will surely need to be updated frequently to reflect the evolution of AI in healthcare.

Ähnliche Arbeiten