Artificial intelligence-based internet hospital pharmacy services in China: Perspective based on a case study

Abstract

Background: Recently, internet hospitals have been emerging in China, saving patients time and money during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, pharmacy services that link doctors and patients are becoming essential in improving patient satisfaction. However, the existing internet hospital pharmacy service mode relies primarily on manual operations, making it cumbersome, inefficient, and high-risk.Objective: To establish an internet hospital pharmacy service mode based on artificial intelligence (AI) and provide new insights into pharmacy services in internet hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: An AI-based internet hospital pharmacy service mode was established. Initially, prescription rules were formulated and embedded into the internet hospital system to review the prescriptions using AI. Then, the “medicine pick-up code,” which is a Quick Response (QR) code that represents a specific offline self-pick-up order, was created. Patients or volunteers could pick up medications at an offline hospital or drugstore by scanning the QR code through the window and wait for the dispensing machine or pharmacist to dispense the drugs. Moreover, the medication consultation function was also operational.Results: The established internet pharmacy service mode had four major functional segments: online drug catalog search, prescription preview by AI, drug dispensing and distribution, and AI-based medication consultation response. The qualified rate of AI preview was 83.65%. Among the 16.35% inappropriate prescriptions, 49% were accepted and modified by physicians proactively and 51.00% were passed after pharmacists intervened. The “offline self-pick-up” mode was preferred by 86% of the patients for collecting their medication in the internet hospital, which made the QR code to be fully applied. A total of 426 medication consultants were served, and 48.83% of them consulted outside working hours. The most frequently asked questions during consultations were about the internet hospital dispensing process, followed by disease diagnosis, and patient education. Therefore, an AI-based medication consultation was proposed to respond immediately when pharmacists were unavailable.Conclusion: The established AI-based internet hospital pharmacy service mode could provide references for pharmacy departments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The significance of this study lies in ensuring safe/rational use of medicines and raising pharmacists’ working efficiency.

Artificial intelligence in the field of pharmacy practice: A literature review

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, a grade 3 A specialized hospital in Shanghai, launched an AI-based internet hospital pharmacy service. 86 The prescription rules were developed and embedded into the internet hospital system to review the prescriptions using AI, after which the pharmacists would review and the medications would be dispensed after a double check. Then, a “medicine pick-up code” is generated, which is a Quick Response (QR) code that represents a specific offline self-pick-up order (fragile drugs, high-risk drugs, and drugs requiring special management and storage at 2–8 °C).…”

“…They also provided medication consultation services, where a volunteer team of licensed pharmacists with extensive clinical experience provided free medication consultation services online. 86 …”

“…Based on TCoC savings and programme costs, the return on investment is 12.4:1. Bu F, 2022 86 China During the COVID-19 pandemic, to establish an internet hospital pharmacy service mode based on artificial intelligence (AI) and provide new insights into pharmacy services in internet hospitals. Prospective study Users who benefit from Shanghai medical insurance settlement.…”

Application of Internet hospitals for first-visit patients with COVID-19 during the pandemic in China

“…Pharmaceutical services could become a bridge between doctors and patients, saving patients’ time and economic costs and ensuring the safe and reasonable use of drugs. 28 At the beginning of the epidemic, psychologists and paediatricians joined the online service, 29 meeting an increased demand at the time. Our online services were also targeted at different groups of people.…”

The Application of online medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary nodules in thoracic surgery (Preprint)

“…In addition, from the perspective of medical big data, internet diagnosis and treatment can accumulate and utilize massive medical data to support disease management, drug research and development, and healthcare system optimization 40 . Patients can carry out correct health management through their own health data and health interventions; Physicians can assist in diagnosis and continuous learning based on medical data; Pharmaceutical companies can use treatment data for drug development and precision marketing; Hospitals can use medical data to optimize internal performance evaluation and medical process management; Medical security departments and insurance companies can adjust payment policies, formulate reasonable premium pricing, and prevent excessive treatment based on medical insurance and treatment data 40,41 .…”