Associate Professor Dr Shazia Jamshed

Dr. Shazia Jamshed has published over 100 research papers on healthcare systems and pharmacy behavior.

Applications of Digital Health in Pharmacy Practice and Education: Current Insights and Future Directions

The prompt amalgamation of digital health technologies into healthcare systems is primarily reshaping both the practice of pharmacy and the training of future pharmacists. Digital health technologies covering tele-pharmacy, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile health (mHealth), and electronic health records (EHRs) have already started transforming practice and care by refining patient well-being and medication safety, concordance and adherence, clinical workflow, and shared decision-making. The current session combines existing facts and promising forthcoming trajectories in these two interrelated domains. In practice, the concept of tele-pharmacy has surfaced as one of the most credible digital health modalities. This ground-breaking model not only strengthens access to pharmaceutical care but also reinforces chronic disease management through tele-delivered medication evaluation and treatment rationalization. mHealth applications and wearable devices are facilitating communities to dynamically contribute to their individual treatment, allowing patients to be adherence-cognizant by consistently receiving reminders and monitoring health parameters, thus simplifying a hands-on, data-driven strategy to pharmaceutical care. AI and clinical decision support systems (CDSS) correspond to another frontline redesigning pharmacy practice and clinical pharmacy. Specialty pharmacy is swiftly implementing AI, telehealth, and data analytics to rationalise multifaceted workflows, expand patient contact, and improve operational productivity as real-time patient reporting becomes a valuable tool in care programs. In pharmacy education, the priority to prepare graduates for a digitally centric healthcare setting has encouraged extensive curricular transformation. Digital health innovations like eHealth, mHealth, e-learning, telehealth, AI, telemedicine, telepharmacy, virtual reality, and augmented reality are gradually amalgamated into pharmacy education to train future practitioners for a digital healthcare environment; however, indicators on their influence on learning outcomes and skill development are evolving. One cannot deny that pharmacy programs have integrated AI directions into curricula in the hope of edification of foundational proficiencies in applying digital health technologies to practice while augmenting critical reasoning in decision-making. Nonetheless, substantial gaps remain unchanged. Also, the unification of AI, real-world data, big data, and digital therapeutics confirms a conceptual modification in the context of pharmaceutical care in precision medicine. Future trajectories essentially select impartial access to digital tools, dynamic faculty preparation, and competency framework expansion, which correspond to FIP Development Goal 20 on digital health. Collective strategies not only among pharmacy schools and professional bodies but also with technology developers will be decisive to connect the extensive capacities of digital health for pharmacy practice and education.