Cancer Care Ontario, the organization that oversees cancer treatment in Ontario, is challenged with establishing an innovative approach to reducing wait times for breast cancer and prostate cancer therapy across Ontario after wait times increased to more than two months. The special advisor on cancer issues to the Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care needs to report his recommendation to Cancer Care Ontario’s board of directors, who manage all regional cancer centres in the province. The major challenge is to balance the needs and values of all the various stakeholders, while developing short-, medium- and long-term solutions to the wait list dilemma.
This case chronicles the challenges of establishing an innovative tissue bank service to accelerate the research and development processes of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Asterand’s two major challenges involved achieving a standardized approach to collecting tissue samples in hospitals all over the world and achieving the highest possible quality of tissue samples shipped to their primary customer, Amgen. Despite the identified need for high-quality tissue samples, Asterand was experiencing multiple quality control problems in their processes and procedures. Tissue samples were being packaged poorly, labeled incorrectly or delivered at the wrong time or to the wrong place. Additionally, there were quality issues with the RNA analysis of the samples, which was a critical factor in the usability of the tissue sample for research and development of new therapies and drugs. <br><br><br><br>The head of pathology at Amgen’s California facility was threatening to terminate their existing order and communicate the failure of Asterand to all company employees, which would have a devastating ripple effect across the industry and likely destroy opportunities for any future orders with Asterand. If this happened, Asterand would not be able to secure contracts with customers and was at risk of losing investors and going bankrupt.
Riverside District Memorial Hospital is a small rural hospital that must work within an operational budget that is determined by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. This case identifies the emergence of concerns for patient safety related to medication administration, and the challenges of ensuring that professional services are maintained by the pharmacy department to serve patients admitted to hospital. The chief nursing executive must decide what steps should be taken to reduce medication errors, in the context of the complex relationships at Riverside.