Strategic Management Case Study Write up The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care - Assignment Example

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY WRITE UP: "The of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care" Date: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY WRITE UP: "The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care" There are several implications to having a multidisciplinary care, including the fact that the hospital would have to bring together a team of medical experts in different areas of the treatment of cancer all under a single umbrella where they can offer their services to patients.

It also implies that different cases of cancer would have to be treated under a common center. From this explanation of multidisciplinary care, there is one clear importance that can be derived from having a multidisciplinary care center for cancer. The availability of a team of medical experts including medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists and pathologists, all under one roof would enhance efficiency by bringing the patients closer to doctors and thus avoiding the need to be taking patients from one place to another to receive care.

Such efficiency can indeed improve the outcome of medical processes on cancer patients (Harris & Lenox, 2013). Based on the array of workers found at the head and neck center and how their roles and functions are both related and independent, it can be said that the structure at the center is functional organizational structure. In this system, there are chains of roles and functions, each of which are headed by a leader and have a group of supporting workers under the leader (Moran, 2013). The work that is done by each functional department however affects the other directly.

Currently, the activities, specialists and facilities that come under the center are those that are divided among the functional departments of cancer medical experts, nurses, and social workers. Together, the following activities are shared across the multiple center: surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, diagnostic radiology, pathology, oncologic dentistry and prosthodontics, ophthalmology, nursing, and social work. From the case, it would be noted that the commonest way in which integration of care takes place can be noted to be through the use of hierarchical and referral procedures.

By this, reference is made to the fact that patients are made to benefit from the existence of multidisciplinary care by first having to go through the procedural roles played by the various functional departments in a much hierarchical manner. That is, patients first go into the hands of social workers, and then to nurses before having to go through the hands of the medical experts. But even among the medical experts, referrals are made from one department to the other depending on the outcome of disease.

This works on the mechanism of the functional organizational structure. The whole concept of multidisciplinary care that can be seen at the center is one that can be said to have gone through a lot of careful planning and systematic understudying of situations prevailing at the hospital. In effect, a lot have gone into research and development (R&D) as part of the creation of the head and neck center. Such quantum of effort and planning that have gone into the creation of the center is responsible for the success that has been seen at MD Anderson.

This is because work is currently going on at the place in a well coherent, systematic and planned manner, which is devoid of confusion and trial and error. The hospital is currently considering the creation of a new endocrine center with the aim of having a unit that manages thyroid gland and parathyroid gland cancers together with other endocrine related conditions. Certainly, this is a prudent idea that is being considered. This is because such an endocrine center would come to expand the service base of the hospital and thus improve accessibility of care to service users (Kaplan and Porter, 2011).

Once this happens, the hospital can live its dream of becoming even more multidisciplinary because the services to be offered by the new center will come to complement what is already being done and even increase the research base of the multidisciplinary center. Improving the healthcare system is a call that all concerned stakeholders is seeking to champion. It is therefore very important that despite its existing success, the MD Anderson interdisciplinary care model would seek to find ways by which it can improve on its overall quality and efficiency.

A model based recommendation that will be made to achieve this is for the center to continue focusing on expansion on R&D. As noted by Ginter, Duncan and Swayne (2013), the healthcare sector is one of the most dynamic, having new cases of disease complications each day. Consequently, service providers have a responsibility to ensure that through intensified research, they able to take a step ahead of possible future conditions that may come up. Whiles thinking of improving quality through R&D, expansion of the program will also be important to ensure that the number of beneficiaries that come under the center’s model is increased.

A recommendation on how to undertake the expansion is to use a very gradual and demand based approach. What this would entail is for the center to try and identify its most pressing demands on cancer care. Based on the outcome of what the hospital makes, it would then seek to create new units that expand on the existing ones to increase access to care. But even in the creation of new units, it would be important to first ensure that the approach is gradual, starting with a test center which would only be given permanent operational status after their output of work have been justified to be satisfactory.

References Ginter, P.M., Duncan, W.J. and Swayne, L.E. (2013). The Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations. 7th Edition. New York: Jossey-Bass Harris, J.D. & Lenox, M.J. (2013). The Strategists Toolkit. 7th Edition. Texas: Darden Business Publishing Kaplan, R. S., and Porter M. E. (2011). "How to Solve the Cost Crisis in Health Care." Harvard Business Review 89(9): 47–64. Moran F. (2013). Glossary of Fitness and Health Terms. Texas: Frank Moran.