Students are almost twice as likely to ask AI for health advice than a pharmacist, a new study has revealed.
Research published today found that just 6% of students would seek out a community pharmacist for health advice, while 27% would turn to Google and 11% would seek help from AI.
Chlora’s study of 1,000 students aged 18 to 24 also found that while over three-quarters could locate their nearest pub, less than one in four knew where their nearest pharmacy was.
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And some 60% of those surveyed said they have never asked a community pharmacist for health advice before.
But the research also discovered that more than half of respondents trust pharmacists “completely or to a great extent”, compared to just 10% who would trust healthcare advice provided by Google.
“First port of call”
Coinciding with fresher’s week this year, Chlora’s “Talk Before You Type” campaign aims to encourage students “to make their community pharmacy a first port of call” for symptoms of fresher’s flu, which almost half of respondents said they have experienced.
Community pharmacist and health content creator Melissa Dadgar said that for many young people the start of university “is also the first time they have had to manage their health without their usual support network nearby”.
“It’s understandable that students reach for their phones when they feel unwell, but AI and online searches cannot assess symptoms in the same way as a trained healthcare professional,” she added.
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It comes after nearly 90,000 young people received the first dose of the meningitis B vaccine in the first two weeks of the NHS’s catch-up campaign for students ahead of the 2026 academic year.
The vaccine programme was rolled out in response to the Kent outbreak earlier this year and which the Department of Health called “the fastest growing and largest ever seen in the UK”.
