AI is now entering Pharmacy, but there is little understanding or developments in what good governance looks like. While many developments are in their infancy, this presents a critical window for Pharmacy. Pharmacy can either establish professional standards, validation criteria and workforce capability now, before widespread deployment, or spend years retrofitting governance onto systems already embedded in practice and playing catch up.
Why This Matters
The gap between AI capability and deployment is not an accident, it reflects unresolved questions:
- Who validates algorithmic tools before pharmacy adoption?
- What safety standards should clinical decision-support systems meet?
- How do pharmacists maintain accountability when using AI-assisted tools?
- What training is required before deploying these systems?
These are answerable questions — but they require proactive leadership.
Without early frameworks, we risk:
- Fragmented local procurement with inconsistent validation
- Tools implemented without adequate pharmacist training
- Accountability gaps when AI-assisted decisions cause harm
- Professional skepticism undermining potentially beneficial technology
Technology governance works best when built ahead of deployment, not retrofitted after problems emerge.
Strategic Approaches
Advancing AI policy development in pharmacy practice
Supporting professional bodies in developing comprehensive AI policy by bridging AI experts to the profession and ensuring robust governance frameworks.
Promoting AI literacy across pharmacy education
Ensuring pharmacists understand the basics of how AI works and recognize its limitations. Maintaining clinical accountability remains paramount until adequate governance is established.
Supporting innovation funding and research expansion in AI and digital health
Professional bodies have a key leadership role in ensuring the profession develops in the right direction. This includes advocating for increased research funding in pharmacy and supporting innovation projects in AI and digital health.
Expected Impact
Position Pharmacy as a profession that governs and adopts technology proactively, and leads other professions to do the same.