The Evolution of ChatGPT in Pharmacy Practice
According to data science expert Don Roosan, PharmD, PhD, the capabilities of ChatGPT are just the beginning of what the future of artificial intelligence may look like in pharmacy practice.
As artificial intelligence (AI) gradually becomes commonplace in a variety of professions, it too has made its way into health care, with large-language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Google Gemini being used on a daily basis to streamline services and improve patient outcomes.
“ChatGPT may assist clinicians in analyzing clinical cases and become a potential tool for supporting pharmacists in providing medication therapy management (MTM) and other health services,” said Don Roosan, PharmD, PhD, in the most recent episode of Over the Counter.
Roosan is a pharmacist and expert on data science. With published work exploring ChatGPT in pharmacy as well as overall ideas on AI in everyday society, he sat down with Drug Topics to discuss how pharmacists are beginning to utilize AI in their practices.
“There’s a lot of places in pharmacy it’s being used, for example, for MTM, for understanding drug-drug interactions,” he said. “Pretty much, what a clinical pharmacist can do for the patients, pretty much can be done using LLMs such as ChatGPT.”
In our conversation with Roosan, he touched on how this may only be the beginning of an AI revolution in pharmacy and beyond. He also explained the importance of educating the professionals that use ChatGPT, LLMs, and AI in general. “Knowledge is power,” as Roosan stated.
Stay tuned for weekly podcast episodes on Over the Counter every Thursday afternoon. Check out our previous episode with Cencora representatives Kyle Pudenz, DBA, and Jennifer Zilka. In a discussion about pharmacy deserts, the duo explored how these locales are being defined, identified, and addressed, on top of the ongoing work Cencora is doing to assist pharmacies across the country.
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