Abstract
PurposeTraditionally, the morbidity and mortality conference (M&MC) is a forum where possible medical errors are discussed. Although M&MCs can facilitate identification of opportunities for systemwide improvements, few studies have described their use for this purpose, particularly in residency training programs. This paper describes the use of M&MC case review as a quality improvement activity that teaches system-based practice and can engage residents in improving systems of care. MethodsInternal medicine residents at a tertiary care academic medical center reviewed 347 consecutive mortalities from March 2014 to September 2017. The residents used case review worksheets to categorize and track causes of mortality, and then debriefed with a faculty member. Selected cases were then presented at a larger interdepartmental meeting and action items were implemented. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze the results. ResultsThe residents identified a possible diagnostic mismatch at some point from admission to death in 54.5% of cases (n= 189) and a possible need for improved management in 48.0% of cases. Three possible management failure themes were identified, including failure to plan, failure to communicate, and failure to rescue, which accounted for 21.9%, 10.7 %, and 10.1% of cases, respectively. Following these reviews, quality improvement initiatives proposed by residents led to system-based changes. ConclusionA resident-driven mortality review curriculum can lead to improvements in systems of care. This novel type of curriculum can be used to teach system-based practice. The recruitment of teaching faculty with expertise in quality improvement and mortality case analyses is essential for such a project.
Highlights
The morbidity and mortality conference (M&MC) is traditionally utilized in academic medical centers as a forum to identify and discuss adverse events
Three possible management failure themes were identified, including failure to plan, failure to communicate, and failure to rescue, which were implicated in 21,9% (n= 76), 10.7% (n= 35), and 10.1% of cases (n= 35), respectively
We describe the educational value of our innovative mortality case review curriculum to teach residents and drive systembased improvements for mortality reduction
Summary
The morbidity and mortality conference (M&MC) is traditionally utilized in academic medical centers as a forum to identify and discuss adverse events. The literature regards the M&MC as a crude means of addressing errors since many adverse events are identified through other processes and are often not reported in. M&MCs have been further criticized for being a public forum for blame allocation [4]. A survey of US internal medicine residency programs revealed that most programs contained MM&Cs as a traditional forum to discuss medical errors and pathophysiology related to adverse events and deaths. Only half of the residency programs had established a process for handling and following up on the errors identified in these conferences [1]. Participation in clinical case review and peer review is a fundamental com-
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