Autor(es): Castro, Francisco ; Pires, Gonçalo ; Pinto, Isabel C. ; Cunha, José ; Nascimento, Luís ; Taboada Costa, Xavier
Data: 2025
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/34900
Origem: Biblioteca Digital do IPB
Assunto(s): Artificial inteligence; Community pharmacy
Community pharmacies play a vital role in public health, serving as the first point of contact for many patients. With the increasing workload and complexity of care, artificial intelligence (AI) is being explored as a way to enhance pharmaceutical services [1-3]. Objective: This literature review aims to explore the current AI-based hardware and software technologies applied in community pharmacy, the barriers to their implementation, and their impact on pharmaceutical care. Methodology: A literature review was conducted using PubMed, focusing on articles from 2020 to 2025. Keywords included “artificial intelligence”, “community pharmacy”, “hardware”, “software” and “robots”. Inclusion criteria prioritized full-text studies of scoping reviews, systematic reviews or narrative reviews, about AI applications in community pharmacy. Results: The review identified a variety of AI tools, such as dispensing robots, decision-support systems, inventory management platforms, and chatbots. Benefits reported include improved medication adherence (up to +40%), reduced dispensing errors (up to -75%), and increased operational efficiency. Major implementation barriers are high costs, insufficient training, lack of technological infrastructure, and data privacy concerns. Conclusion: AI technologies offer promising opportunities to optimize processes and enhance patient safety in community pharmacy. However, successful integration requires strategic investment in training, infrastructure, and ethical safeguards to ensure safe and effective use.
