Pharmacy Student Use of ChatGPT

Abstract

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools into educational environments has become a subject of increasing interest. This study delves into the utilization of ChatGPT, a cutting-edge conversational AI technology, among pharmacy students. By investigating how these students engage with ChatGPT, the research aims to shed light on the impact of AI on academic practices, discern the various purposes for which ChatGPT is employed, and offer insights into the potential enhancements and challenges this technology presents in pharmacy education. It is hypothesized that the majority of pharmacy students in a PharmD program have used ChatGPT to assist with academic work of various types. An anonymous Qualtrics survey was emailed to all students matriculating in a Doctor of Pharmacy program in October of 2023. The survey consisted of 11 Likert-scale type questions and two text-entry questions. The overall response rate was 54.3%, however, the response rate by class was P1= 84%, P2=87%, P3=79%, and P4=6%. The P4 students are those no longer taking didactic courses on campus and are matriculating in clinical rotations, thus, may explain the difference in response rate. 26.6% of respondents were not aware of ChatGPT. Of those aware of ChatGPT, 66.7% have never used ChatGPT for academic purposes. Responders not aware of ChatGPT or never used it for academic purposes did not continue with the survey, by design. Thus, only 22% (27/121) of initial responders used ChatGPT for academic purposes and continued with the survey. The most often cited academic uses of ChatGPT were: studying for course exams and quizzes (41%), calculations (26%), interpreting clinical trials (22%), patient case questions used in pharmacotherapy courses (22%), and preparing presentations for classes or rotations (22%), among several other listed uses. The majority of users found ChatGPT to be moderately effective to highly effective assisting with academic work. Most users agreed that they were able to write effective prompts to receive effective responses from ChatGPT. 85% of users agreed that they always cross-check the responses to ensure accuracy. 78% were confident in their ability to use ChatGPT without plagiarizing. 18% of users agreed that in hindsight they may have unintentionally plagiarized an assignment with 19% neither agreeing or disagreeing. 89% agreed that they are confident in their judgement to determine when it is appropriate or not appropriate to use ChatGPT to assist with academic work. 89% were confident that use of ChatGPT was not hindering their learning of material or development of skills/abilities and 88% were confident that use enhanced their learning and development. In conclusion, a minority of pharmacy students have used ChatGPT for academic work, which was unexpected. None. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.