Artificial intelligence in hospital pharmacy and current application, challenges, and future perspectives.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as an important technology in modern healthcare and is gradually changing the way hospital pharmacy services are delivered. In hospital pharmacy practice, AI can support pharmacists in activities such as prescription screening, medication error detection, drug interaction checking, adverse drug reaction monitoring, inventory management, antimicrobial stewardship, drug information services, and personalized patient care. By processing large amounts of clinical and pharmaceutical data, AI-based systems can help identify potential medication-related problems more quickly and support pharmacists in making informed decisions. AI can also improve the efficiency of drug procurement, stock forecasting, dispensing, and medication-use processes, thereby reducing workload and improving patient safety. However, the implementation of AI also presents challenges, including data privacy and security, inaccurate or biased outputs, limited transparency of algorithms, integration with existing hospital systems, financial costs, and the need for trained healthcare professionals. Therefore, AI should be considered a supportive technology rather than a replacement for pharmacists. Effective collaboration between AI systems and pharmacy professionals, along with appropriate ethical, legal, and regulatory frameworks, will be essential for its safe and responsible use. This review discusses the current applications, benefits, challenges, ethical and legal considerations, and future potential of AI in hospital pharmacy practice.