Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a serious complication that increases mortality and significantly impacts quality of life in allogeneic HCT recipients.  A thorough understanding of the various clinical manifestations of acute and chronic GVHD is essential for the early recognition of signs and symptoms. Oncology nurses require ongoing education that provides expert guidance necessary for the optimal management of patients with GVHD.

In order to improve smoking cessation efforts, health care providers need to understand options for smoking cessation therapy as well as the clinical data supporting these interventions. Pharmacists can play a critical role in patient education, therapy recommendations, and therapy management for smoking cessation.

Many new options exist for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in addition to traditional platinum-based chemotherapy. Pharmacists should be aware of the new data and recommendations for immunotherapies and targeted therapies, and how they relate to improvements in clinical efficacy and quality of life. It is also important to be aware of the potential for unique and potentially severe adverse events that can occur with these therapies; therefore, pharmacists should educate patients about the possibility of adverse events and the need to report symptoms to their health care teams to avoid severe complications.

Recent advances have led to rational drug development as new therapeutically actionable molecular targets have emerged. It is important for clinicians to be aware of how to incorporate these novel treatment options into clinical practice in ways that achieve meaningful patient outcomes, as well as best practices for providing supportive care and patient education.