
Established in February 2012, the Pediatric Cancer Task Force is derived from the country’s National Cancer Strategy. The HMC/SKI Partnership fosters collaboration to ensure pediatric patients are referred in a timely manner to Hamad General Hospital. This initiative strives to develop a multi-disciplinary system with effective case management techniques, an emphasis on early diagnosis and detection, which ensures easy access to relevant treatment, and incorporates the patients’ follow-up and transition from children’s services to adult services
The task force is chaired by Dr. Abdullah Al Nasser, Head of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Section, HMC, and its membership comprises of representatives from various disciplines involved in the diagnoses and treatment of pediatric oncology patients.
Based on input from the National Cancer Strategy, the Pediatric Cancer Task Force identified achievable priorities to drive the task force throughout 2012. The task force promotes a multi-disciplinary model of care based on the Palliative Care Strategy with an improvement of CVL Management. Other priorities of the task force included developing pediatric cancer registries, establishing separate subspecialty clinics for hematology and oncology, creating and implementing referral timelines, and delivering consultant-led education on early recognition of pediatric cancer to Primary Healthcare and Pediatric Emergency Centers. In order to monitor progress accomplished in the priority areas of work, the task force developed a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor progress and measure success.
In the short time since inception of the task force, significant progress has been made due to the great determination, contribution, and effort of the membership and the visiting team from SickKids International. Together, they reviewed pediatric hematology services at HMC and provided recommendations towards the development of the pediatric cancer registry, which have subsequently been translated into an implementation plan. The hematology and oncology clinics have been separated and staff currently rotates between the two. Through the framework of the task force, the Tumor Board – a weekly multi-disciplinary team meeting where diagnosis and treatment plans are discussed – was introduced as part of the commitment towards establishing an inter-disciplinary model of care. In addition, oncology subspecialty nursing courses were delivered regarding chemotherapy administration and palliative care.
As a next step, CVL training courses for nurses and workshops on early detection are scheduled to take place in November 2012. A team of SMEs will visit Qatar in November to review pediatric oncology services at HMC and provide recommendations, with an emphasis on the Bone Marrow Transplant (Neuroblastom) Program, protocols for treatment of cancer patients, pharmacy tracking of chemotherapeutic agents, supportive care, central-line policies, and modeling multi-disciplinary approach in the management of complex cases.
The Pediatric Oncology Task Force acknowledges that it still has a long way to go, but is determined to continue to make strides due to the dedication and hard work of its members. The guiding principle for all their efforts is to provide the most proactive, streamlined and effective approach to the treatment of pediatric cancer patients.