CAPhO Connections Podcast: Part 2 of Unlocking AI in Oncology Pharmacy: Building a Clinically Relevant Future with Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping oncology pharmacy by enhancing clinical decision-making, improving medication safety, streamlining workflows, and advancing precision medicine and clinical trials. But with rapid innovation comes important questions around ethics, privacy, bias, regulation, and the future role of pharmacy professionals. Tune in to a Part 2 series on AI as we explore the exciting opportunities, real-world challenges, and evolving impact of AI on oncology pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, patient care, and cancer research.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this episode, listeners will be able to:
Examine how AI can support oncology pharmacy practice through clinical decision-making, trials, medication safety, workflow efficiency, adherence monitoring, and inventory/drug shortage management.Evaluate the safe and appropriate integration of AI-driven tools into oncology pharmacy workflows, including clinical oversight, guideline alignment, and adoption barriers.Analyze the ethical, regulatory, privacy, and accountability considerations associated with AI use in oncology pharmacy and patient care.Explore the opportunities and challenges AI presents for the evolving roles, responsibilities, and future skill development of oncology staff
About the Guest: Bastiaan Buijtenhuijs
Bastiaan is Head of Product at iQ HealthTech and Product Owner for iQemo, a leading SACT prescribing system used in the UK and internationally. He completed the NHS Digital Academy (Cohort 3) and MSc in AI for oncology pharmacy, and has recently begun a PhD in applied clinical AI.
Resources Used
- Predicting drug shortages using pharmacy data and machine learning — 22 Canadian pharmacies; 69% one-month-ahead accuracy; 59% of highest-impact shortages. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10009839/
- Drug shortage in South Korea: machine learning-based prediction of duration and causal factors. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2025. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1608843/full
- American Medical Association — 2026 Physician Survey on Augmented Intelligence (n≈1,700, fielded 15 January to 2 February 2026): 81% use AI professionally vs 38% in 2023; >75% say AI improves their ability to care for patients (65% in 2023); 88% concerned about skill loss and 70% specifically about current trainees; 88% cite robust safety/efficacy validation and 86% data privacy as critical to adoption; 85% want to be consulted or involved in adoption decisions; clear liability frameworks rank highest among regulatory actions needed to build trust. https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/physician-ai-sentiment-report.pdf
- General Pharmaceutical Council — Position statement: the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in pharmacy, 20 April 2026 https://assets.pharmacyregulation.org/files/2026-04/GPhC_position_statement_on_the_use_of_Artificial_Intelligence_in_pharmacy_0.pdf
- Health Canada — Pre-market guidance for machine learning-enabled medical devices (published 1 April 2026; PCCP, bias management, lifecycle monitoring). https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medical-devices/application-information/guidance-documents/pre-market-guidance-machine-learning-enabled-medical-devices.html
- MHRA — AI Airlock: the regulatory sandbox for AIaMD; £3.6m secured April 2026 for 2026–2029. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ai-airlock-the-regulatory-sandbox-for-aiamd
- MHRA MedRegs blog — Advancing AI regulation in healthcare: insights from AI Airlock Phase 2, June 2026. https://medregs.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/09/advancing-ai-regulation-in-healthcare-insights-from-ai-airlock-phase-2/
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-commission-into-the-regulation-of-ai-in-healthcare-research-engagement-and-call-for-evidence-findings
- Underrepresentation of patients aged ≥75 (26.1% vs 44.3%) and rural residents (11.8% vs 14.6%) in cancer trials. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.24.25322776.full.pdf
BOPA AI Webinar Series
BOPA E&T Webinar: Harnessing AI in Oncology Pharmacy Practice – Focus on Administrative Efficiency (20th June 2025):
BOPA E&T Webinar: AI uses cases in Cancer Pharmacy (17th December 2025):
BOPA E&T Webinar: Using ChatGPT & LLMs in Healthcare: A Short, Practical Introduction (23rd February 2026):
BOPA E&T Webinar: Utilizing AI to assess aseptic technique (19th August 2025)