Not true. Do you think any person wants a robot performing surgery on them or giving them anesthesia or performing a physical exam. According to ACC, AI will help Doctors not replace them. With respect to pharmacy, AI can definitely verify meds, provide DI report, and pick appropriate therapy based on a guideline.
Robots ALREADY do surgery. Look it up. If 5G gets here, that **** will be remotely performed from India. Mark my words.
Who plays phone tag with the prescriber to explain the correct dosing of Tamiflu for a positive test (hint: not once daily for 10 days)?
Who confirms a once daily amoxicillin Rx is for strep?
Who corrects the patient on misinformation about statins or influenza vaccines they've read online?
Who stops a clopidogrel Rx from being filled when it's been discontinued by the cardiologist due to GI bleeding with a patient that is renally dosed on Eliquis. . . but the incompetent PCP insists it be filled?
Who calls on a Cipro Rx given for a respiratory infection when discovered during counseling?
Who takes a call from a patient's wife who informs you her husband has swelling of the lips and face (while on lisinopril)? Then who follows up and finds that the stubborn husband thought he could just sleep it off and potentially saves the man's live by scaring him to go?
Who finds affordable alternatives for patients without having to do a ton of research? Who recommends a patient ask their physician for a latanoprost Rx when Bimatoprost for eyelash growth isn't covered? That's not in any guidelines.
Who facilitates a switch from fluoxetine to sertraline when a patient's anxiety is out of control and gets their clonazepam usage down from 3 tablets a day to 3 tablets a WEEK as a result?
Who informs a prescriber they will need to titrate up on insulin glargine if they switch from Lantus to Toujeo? Also not in guidelines or anything in the system.
Who uses clinical judgement on the DUR system where 99.7% of flags are not clinically relevant in any way? Do you realize how many dangerous QT prolonging combos pop up as minor or undetermined severity? Does AI call on every single ACEi/ARB interaction with an NSAID or every NSAID/SSRI interaction? Either AI will have to get incredibly advanced, or physicians will be ignoring calls that are actually relevant due to the flood of bull**** calls they will get.
These are all real occurrences that immediately come to mind from this year. I probably have ten interventions a day that AI is not capable of dealing with. Sure, the lady could go without the latanoprost and the Cipro might have been ok despite poor S. pneumo coverage, but these are not things AI will catch unless systems change drastically.
AI will be a tool that pharmacists can utilize, but it is nowhere near being capable of filling our shoes anytime soon. Even if AI DOES catch a lot of the problem prescriptions, pharmacists will still need to review all of this for a long time to come. AI is probably not going to be capable of explaining a nuanced issue to a medical assistant.
That being said, I wouldn't advise anyone to go into pharmacy right now unless it's really their passion. If you do go into pharmacy, make sure you get every designation possible and you are the best you can be. You have to separate yourself from the crowd. The good news is a lot of schools are shrinking enrollment due to a lack of quality students and board pass rates are very poor overall. It will swing back the other way eventually. It's not as dire as the law school glut, but it isn't good right now.
