Fellow-led SICU morbidity and mortality conferences address patient safety, quality improvement, interprofessional cooperation and ACGME milestones

Abstract

BackgroundMorbidity and mortality conferences (MMCs) promote patient safety, spur quality improvement (QI) projects, and enhance interprofessional cooperation. The use of MMCs to address the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's (ACGME's) six core competencies and specialty-specific milestones for surgical critical care (SCC) fellows has yet to be explored. MethodsWe developed a monthly, interprofessional, case-based MMC program managed by SCC fellows. We assessed participants’ experiences through post-conference surveys and semi-structured interviews. ResultsAfter nine conferences, 95.1% of participants (n = 143) agree or strongly agree that the MMC improved their knowledge and clinical assessment skills. The MMC spurred two QI projects, increased interprofessional cooperation, and addressed all six ACGME core competencies and 16 specialty-specific milestones. ConclusionsInterprofessional, case-based MMCs are an effective educational tool for SCC fellowship programs. They promote patient safety, QI, and interprofessional cooperation, and address ACGME core competencies and specialty-specific milestones for SCC fellows.