A virtual patient software program to improve pharmacy student learning in a comprehensive disease management course.

Objective: To implement and assess the impact of a virtual patient pilot program on pharmacy students' clinical competence skills.

Design: Pharmacy students completed interactive software-based patient case scenarios embedded with drug-therapy problems as part of a course requirement at the end of their third year.

Assessment: Assessments included drug-therapy problem competency achievement, performance on a pretest and posttest, and pilot evaluation survey instrument.

Predictive factors for all-trans retinoic acid-related differentiation syndrome in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia.

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) used for the treatment of APL can lead to the development of differentiation syndrome (DS), a potentially life threatening complication. Since ATRA is metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, we sought to identify drug interactions that might be associated with a higher risk for the development of DS in addition to other predictive factors related to the incidence of DS. We identified 60 consecutive patients with APL treated at our institution with ATRA from May 2004 until January 2010.

Pharmacology of antineoplastic agents in older cancer patients.

Persons over the age of 65 years are the fastest growing segment of the United States population. In the next 30 years it will comprise over 20% of the population. Fifty percent of all cancers occur in this age group and therefore there will be an expected rise in the total cancer burden.

Pharmacokinetic considerations of oral chemotherapy in elderly patients with cancer.

Persons over the age of 65 years are the fastest growing segment of the US population. In the next 30 years they will comprise over 20% of the population. Fifty per cent of all cancers occur in this age group and therefore there will be an expected rise in the total cancer burden.

Pharmacology of antineoplastic agents in older cancer patients.

The fastest growing segment of the US population is the group over the age of 65 years. In the next 30 years, this group will comprise over 20% of the population. Because 60% of all cancers occur in this age group, there will be an expected rise in the total cancer burden.