Students’ Professional Growth Relies on AI Integration in Pharmacy School Curricula

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) is growing to become a necessity in pharmacy practice, making AI’s incorporation into pharmacy school curricula a crucial step for the future of the profession. According to authors of a study published in Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, the need to empower pharmacists as authoritative AI users in today’s health care landscape is dire.¹

“AI-driven tools are reshaping workflows, improving medication safety, and enhancing clinical decision-making,” wrote Sonya Collins for the American Pharmacists Association.² “From easing administrative burden on pharmacists to lowering hospital readmission rates, AI is empowering pharmacists to focus more on direct patient care and complex clinical responsibilities.”

Upon AI’s introduction within health care spaces, its early adoption has shown the ability to save providers time, improve patient outcomes, and optimize federal and state health care resources. In pharmacy practice specifically, as study authors discussed, AI is used to identify drug-drug interactions, support medication therapy management, automate dispensing, and more.¹

However, many ideas and approaches surrounding AI’s health care integration are still novel. With providers and leaders within health care actively developing their AI strategies, clinicians and pharmacists alike are being encouraged to add their insights toward AI implementation and collaborate with informational technology experts to further leverage AI.³

Whether it be the executive leadership of health care organizations or aspiring professionals currently undertaking medical degrees, experts are collectively beginning to understand the value of a provider with advanced knowledge of AI’s use in health care.

READ MORE: Community Pharmacies Demonstrate Value as Future of Health Care Hubs

AI in Pharmacy Education

“Incorporating AI is thus considered crucial for the development of any contemporary health care curriculum, yet its implementation in pharmacy education remains limited,” wrote authors of the current study.¹ “Current accreditation standards, such as those of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), recognize health informatics, including the ‘effective and secure design and use of electronic and other technology-based systems,’ as a required element of the didactic Doctor of Pharmacy Curriculum.”

Despite significant acknowledgement of AI’s potential use in the future, few pharmacy school curricula have established clear-cut parameters for what learning outcomes are expected regarding AI integration. With limited data on AI in pharmacy education, researchers conducted a scoping review to collate, summarize, and categorize online literature on the subject.

In their scoping review, researchers conducted a literature search of internet databases in June 2024. They included studies focused on AI, machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and Generative Pre-Trained Transformer models. Articles were excluded if they did not touch on pharmacy students, AI, or an educational context.

After exploring a total of 679 studies from 2016 to 2024, researchers included 20 total in their final review. Although half (10) were descriptive and the other half intervention-based, most of these studies (75%) were published between 2023 and 2024—mirroring AI’s recent rise in society.¹

The Future of AI in Pharmacy Practice and Education

“Key findings indicate that pharmacy faculty primarily utilized AI for tasks such as program evaluation, assessment and feedback generation, and reflective writing analysis,” the authors continued. “On the student side, AI has shown promise in supporting personalized learning, especially by improving communication and problem-solving abilities and by assisting in core pharmacy coursework.”

As previously mentioned, AI’s use in health care has grown exponentially in the past few years. Not only are providers exploring its use in medical practice, but it is also emerging as a key resource in pharmacy students’ coursework and their overall understanding of the pharmacist’s role. With faculty using AI and encouraging students to use it as well, this scoping review highlights an environment where AI’s capabilities are actively being explored.¹

In the themes uncovered in this study, students and faculty expressed the desire to further integrate AI into pharmacy practice and education, despite their knowledge or lack thereof regarding AI familiarity. Despite a slew of barriers impeding AI implementation, key stakeholders have expressed their desire to further establish AI applications in pharmacy. As they continue to do so, future research will better elucidate AI’s place in both pharmacy practice and education.

“There is a crucial need to advance current pharmacy curricula by the integration of AI, not only as a teaching aid but also as a formal subject, which highlights the need for transformative pedagogical shifts that equip pharmacists to be responsible, critical, and innovative users of AI, rather than just passive recipients of technology,” they concluded.¹ “Future research should therefore support AI integration in pharmacy education by focusing on evaluating learning outcomes, developing validated AI literacy assessments, and designing structured AI curricula, frameworks, and accreditation standards.”

READ MORE: From Policy to Practice: Elevating Pharmacy’s Role in Quality and Patient Safety

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REFERENCES

1. Kattan L, Moideen S, Abdelrahman A, et al. Artificial intelligence in pharmacy education: a scoping review of current integration & global perceptions. Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2025;18(3):102534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2025.102534

2. Collins S. No longer a distant concept, AI is in health-system pharmacy. APhA. June 2025. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://www.pharmacist.com/Blogs/CEO-Blog/Article/no-longer-a-distant-concept-ai-is-in-health-system-pharmacy

3. Ellis LD. Advancing health care with artificial intelligence: a strategic approach for leaders. Harvard Medical School. February 10, 2025. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://learn.hms.harvard.edu/insights/all-insights/advancing-health-care-artificial-intelligence-strategic-approach-leaders