Assessment of Awareness, Perceptions, and Opinions towards Artificial Intelligence among Healthcare Students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background and Objective: The role of the pharmacist in healthcare society is unique, since they are providers of health information and medication counseling to patients. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate Awareness, Perceptions, and Opinions towards Artificial intelligence (AI) among pharmacy undergraduate students at King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted between December 2022 and January 2023 using online questionnaires. The data collection was carried out using convenience sampling methods among senior pharmacy students at the College of Pharmacy, King Saud University. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 26 was used to analyze the data (SPSS). Results: A total of one hundred and fifty-seven pharmacy students completed the questionnaires. Of these, most of them (n = 118; 75.2%) were males. About 42%, (n = 65) were in their fourth year of study. Most of the students (n = 116; 73.9%) knew about AI. In addition, 69.4% (n = 109) of the students thought that AI is a tool that helps healthcare professionals (HCP). However, more than half 57.3% (n = 90) of the students were aware that AI would assist healthcare professionals in becoming better with the widespread use of AI. Furthermore, 75.1% of the students agreed that AI reduces errors in medical practice. The mean positive perception score was 29.8 (SD = 9.63; range-0–38). The mean score was significantly associated with age (p = 0.030), year of study (p = 0.040), and nationality (p = 0.013). The gender of the participants was found to have no significant association with the mean positive perception score (p = 0.916). Conclusions: Overall, pharmacy students showed good awareness of AI in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the majority of the students had positive perceptions about the concepts, benefits, and implementation of AI. Moreover, most students indicated that there is a need for more education and training in the field of AI. Consequently, early exposure to content related to AI in the curriculum of pharmacy is an important step to help in the wide use of these technologies in the graduates’ future careers.

International pharmacy students' perceptions towards artificial intelligence in medicine—A multinational, multicentre cross‐sectional study

“…This is similar to findings from studies that investigated attitudes towards the impact of AI in healthcare among pharmacy students in Saudi Arabia and others involving medical and dental students, with 69-90% of the participants indicating positive attitudes, suggesting a shared optimism about AI's potential impact across different healthcare fields. 19,23,24,35,39 Moreover, our results show that most pharmacy students view AI's influence on a pharmacist's daily life positively and favour AI software for second opinions on medical issues. This aligns with previous studies among physicians and medical students, which reported positive views ranging from 62 to 83% on AI's diagnostic accuracy and treatment capabilities.…”

“…(n = 136 out of n = 157) of senior pharmacy students in Saudi Arabia disclosed that they had not received any formal AI training. 35 However, it is crucial to consider the variations in pharmaceutical curriculum systems and geographical and socioeconomic contexts when comparing these results. For instance, in our study, a significant majority of participants were studying in European countries.…”

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Toward Artificial Intelligence Among Healthcare Workers in Private Polyclinics in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

“…This finding is also consistent with those of previous studies. 21 , 23 We also enquired about the diagnostic ability of AI compared with the clinical experience of a human doctor; approximately half of the participants agreed that AI would be clinically superior. This has been supported by previous studies that reported that, in radiology and pathology, AI will replace doctors based on diagnostic superiority.…”

Knowledge, attitude and practice among pharmacy students and faculty members towards artificial intelligence in pharmacy practice: A multinational cross-sectional study

“…Comparably, a study carried out in Saudi Arabia reported that pharmacy students showed good awareness of AI. Moreover, they reported that the majority of the students had positive perceptions about the concepts, benefits, and implementation of AI [26].…”

“…Knowing more about AI and having a favorable attitude towards it increases the likelihood that pharmacy students and faculty members will research and use it in their practice. However, the adoption of AI in pharmacy practice is dependent on various factors, including resource availability, training opportunities, regulatory considerations, technological infrastructure, and institutional support [26,27].…”