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Practicum Highlight: Pranati Kuchimanchi, MPH’26

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The AI Prescription: The Role of AI in Advancing Workforce Retention and Medication Safety in Remote Hospitals

After nearly a decade as an inpatient pharmacist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Dr. Pranati Kuchimanchi entered Dartmouth’s Online Master of Public Health program seeking a broader understanding of how healthcare systems shape the lives of the communities they serve. After working in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire since 2015, pursuing an MPH at Dartmouth felt like a natural extension of her commitment to the community. “In today’s landscape, it’s essential to understand how our decisions shape the health of the populations we serve and to recognize the systems and structures that we have the power to improve,” she shared.

Pranati’s Applied Practice Experience (APE) centered on a topic she describes as both exciting and complex: the responsible integration of artificial intelligence into inpatient pharmacy practice. Her professional interest in AI stems from the recognition that it has tremendous potential, as well as the potential to cause harm if not thoughtfully deployed. That tension is ultimately what drew her in. “If AI is going to be introduced into healthcare in a meaningful and impactful way, clinicians need to be involved from day one,” she emphasized, “to ensure it is used responsibly, ethically, and equitably.”

Having spent years fostering strong relationships with pharmacy staff at DHMC and working to improve satisfaction and retention, Pranati saw an opportunity to explore how AI might support a workforce that is essential to hospital operations yet often underrecognized. Pharmacy work, especially as highlighted during the pandemic, can be repetitive, cognitively demanding, and emotionally taxing. Understanding how technology could reduce strain while protecting medication safety became a motivator for her project.

Her practicum began with a comprehensive evaluation of how generative AI tools could be responsibly integrated into inpatient pharmacy practice. Through workflow mapping, interviews, and collaboration with pharmacy leadership, the team, which included Inpatient Pharmacy Technician Supervisors Melissa A. Hammond and William R. Seeley and Central Supply Pharmacy Manager Dr. Eric J. Hoynack, identified several high-burden areas, such as documentation, inventory management, and clinical decision support, where AI could meaningfully support pharmacists and technicians.

From this broader assessment, the team narrowed its focus to developing an early-stage burnout risk tool tailored to the needs of a critical-access inpatient pharmacy. They created a structured framework using 38 indicators across five domains, along with a method for comparing current staff patterns to those of individuals who had previously left the department. This foundation positions the team to pursue pilot testing and to better understand where AI can be used ethically and effectively to support workforce sustainability and ultimately impact medication safety, particularly in remote and under-resourced hospital settings familiar to the Upper Valley.

Reflecting on her time in the MPH program, Pranati describes the experience as transformative. The coursework helped her see how community health extends beyond hospital walls, and the faculty continually pushed her thinking, offering new frameworks to understand the system-wide challenges behind healthcare delivery. She credits her classmates as well for broadening her perspective through their diverse backgrounds, deep compassion, and shared commitment to equity-driven change. “It has truly been a transformative experience to learn alongside people who have expanded how I understand systemic change and my own role within it,” she said. “I am incredibly grateful for the faculty, mentors, and classmates who have shaped this journey with their generosity, insight, and support.”

 

Written by: Mia Soucy

POSTED 1/8/2026 AT 11:27 AM IN #practicum #ape #2026