Assistant Professor, teaching Pharmaceutical Management and Health Information Technology Management at the Institute of Health Management Research, Bangalore. Doctor of Philosophy in Healthcare Operations Research & Management, MS Computer Science, MBA in International Business with Bachelor of Pharmacy. I have research interests in Health Technology Assessment, Health-Pharmacoeconomics, Health-Informatics, and AI-ML.
Day in and day out, the Workforce Department faces new problems and operational demands. It is very important for the department to respond quickly and understand the best possible action to be taken in each single case. It is unknown in a compromised setting of near-constant shifts in forecast and scheduling, increased customer demands, and changing recruitment and retention of employees. Workforce management around the world has begun to use artificial intelligence (AI)-based workforce management (WFM) software to solve the above problems and reach goals. These tools transform workforce management by helping to anticipate and plan short- and long-term planning. These tools improve Workforce Management by helping to predict short- and long-term scheduling and recruiting requirements, communicate with staff, and at the right time bring customers in contact with the right agent. This chapter addresses AI workforce management intervention and WFM instruments with industry-specific case studies and its experience with the product Workforce Dimensions. Present status and future expectations are also critically reviewed. Techniques of AI and machine learning (ML) are transforming industries, as are goods from thermostats to cars. The global enterprise value generated from AI continues to grow, according to Gartner, and is projected to reach up to $ 3.9 trillion by 2022. But what do these approaches mean for workforce management in the field? The current chapter examines the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in various HRM functions, as well as the ongoing debate about the expected decline in the usability of human resources in organizations. In the presence of AI in the workplace, HR practitioners are constantly afraid of being replaced by computers/robots/smart business machines. The study aims to recognize AI’s important contribution to enhancing organizational decision-making processes, as well as to enhance awareness of AI’s acceptability and inclusion in the HRM department. Despite the fact that the combination of AI and HRM is attracting a large number of researchers, many aspects of the field remain unexplored. The current research proposes a collaborative approach by stressing the complementary role of HRM in the successful use of AI, and it contributes to the existing literature. Since AI and HR are so intertwined, organizations should concentrate on incorporating AI as a supporting tool for HR rather than attempting to take over HR’s function. Business systems and smart business machines should be designed in such a way that they cannot produce results without the help of HR.
Part of the book: Artificial Intelligence
The pandemic of COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of emergency preparedness and response (EP and R) in India’s education, training, capacity building, and infrastructure growth. Healthcare professionals, especially pharmacy professionals (PPs) in India, continued to provide drugs, supplies, and services during the pandemic. The public-private healthcare system in India is complicated and of varying quality. Patients face problems as a result of gaps in pharmacy practice education and training, as well as a lack of clarity about pharmacists’ positions. Job requirements and effective placement of healthcare professionals in patient care, as well as on (EP and R) task forces or policy representation, are complicated by this lack of distinction. We have also seen malpractice and spurious distribution in the healthcare and pharmaceutical domain in terms of personal protective kits, medications, injectable, life-saving oxygen, and other items during this unprecedented pandemic situation. A few of the incidents are as follows. The central division police in Bangalore (the Global BPO & IT Hub of India) booked a case of bed-blocking at a private hospital and arrested three people, one of whom is an Arogya Mitra (primary contact for the beneficiaries at every empaneled hospital care provider), for allegedly extorting ₹1.20 lakh from the son of a COVID-19 patient who later passed away. At least 178 COVID-19 patients in India have died because of oxygen shortage in recent weeks. Another 70 deaths have been attributed to an oxygen shortage by patients’ families, but this has been denied by the authorities. The Allahabad High court made a remark “Death of COVID patients due to non-supply of oxygen not less than genocide” on reports circulating on social media regarding the death of COVID-19 patients due to lack of oxygen in Lucknow and Meerut. A day ago, the Delhi police busted an industrial manufacturing unit in Uttarakhand’s Kotdwar where fake Remdesivir injections were being manufactured and arrested five people. These depict the ground reality and ethical standards of good pharmacy practice in this country. There is an utmost necessity to relook and re-establish the standards of pharmacy practice in healthcare setups available in each and every corner of the country in line with guidelines provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). For that, the dependency and responsibilities are very high on healthcare professionals, particularly in this pandemic situation. The pharmacy zone is adaptable, evolving, and increasingly diverse, offering a wide range of work and management opportunities to execute. PPs are human service professionals whose responsibilities include safeguarding individuals by dispensing medications based on prescriptions. Representing the world’s third-largest medicinal services with active gathering, and in India, there are over 1,000,000 (1 million) enrolled PPs employed in various capacities and readily contributing to the country’s well-being. Pharmacy practice, which includes clinical, community, and hospital pharmacy, is referred to as total healthcare in its true sense. Through adaptation and implementation of GPP in healthcare setup, PPs form an essential link between physicians, nurses, and patients in the social community group, with an ultimate emphasis on patient well-being and protection. To instill quality and raise the standard in this chaotic situation there are strict measures required in the country. The International Pharmaceutical Federation and World Health Organization define good pharmacy practice (GPP) as practices that meet the personal needs of patients or those using pharmacy services by offering appropriate evidence-based care. In developed countries, pharmaceutical assistance is defined as a pharmaceutical practice model that involves attitudes, ethical values, behaviors, skills, appointments, and co-responsibility to prevent diseases, promote and recovery health in an integrated manner as part of the healthcare process, highlighting, among other, the requirement that the institution fully adopts the GPP. There is a need for a GPP Program designed by the Indian Govt. or its stakeholders in the context of the Indian healthcare system and adopting “new normal” due to the unprecedented event of COVID 19 and also raising the standard and importance of GPP for the healthcare professionals in the current scenario.
Part of the book: Bioethical Issues in Healthcare