TY - JOUR
T1 - A Survey of the Surgical Morbidity and Mortality Conference in the United States and Canada
T2 - A Dying Tradition or the Key to Modern Quality Improvement?
AU - Anderson, Jamie
AU - Jurkovich, Gregory J.
AU - Galante, Joseph M.
AU - Farmer, Diana L.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the department chairs and others who took the time to complete the survey, as well as the American College of Surgeons Society of Surgical Chairs for their assistance in distributing the survey to members. Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Objective: We seek to identify the current role and practices of the surgery morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference in academic surgery departments in the United States and Canada. Design, Setting, and Participants: All members of the Society of Surgical Chairs, a program of the American College of Surgeons, were e-mailed an IRB-approved 28-question electronic survey in fall 2017. Up to 3 reminders were sent. Results: Responses from 129/186 (69%) departments of surgery were received. Nearly all departments (96%) continue to have a departmental M&M conference. The M&M conference is typically weekly (93%), between 7 and 9 AM (80%), on weekdays during which there are no scheduled elective operations (84%). Attendance is mandatory for residents (98%), but required for faculty in only 49% of departments. Fewer than half of all departments (44%) have written guidelines as to which complications should be reported to M&M. Most conferences are prepared case presentations (89%), but may include unprepared discussions (17%), case-based educational presentations (30%), or a combination (28%). The most common classification category was by root case of the error (60%) and preventability (58%). Most departments keep electronic and/or physical M&M reports, while 21% maintain a relational database and 25% do not retain records. While almost all (96%) departments reported participating in at least one national quality improvement program, these are not often linked to the M&M process. Conclusions: M&M is predominantly seen as an educational conference based on a few select cases. Departmental quality is monitored with hospital-driven or national quality improvement efforts. Integration of hospital-based quality metric programs with surgery M&M conference is uncommon and represents an opportunity for hospital-department collaboration.
AB - Objective: We seek to identify the current role and practices of the surgery morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference in academic surgery departments in the United States and Canada. Design, Setting, and Participants: All members of the Society of Surgical Chairs, a program of the American College of Surgeons, were e-mailed an IRB-approved 28-question electronic survey in fall 2017. Up to 3 reminders were sent. Results: Responses from 129/186 (69%) departments of surgery were received. Nearly all departments (96%) continue to have a departmental M&M conference. The M&M conference is typically weekly (93%), between 7 and 9 AM (80%), on weekdays during which there are no scheduled elective operations (84%). Attendance is mandatory for residents (98%), but required for faculty in only 49% of departments. Fewer than half of all departments (44%) have written guidelines as to which complications should be reported to M&M. Most conferences are prepared case presentations (89%), but may include unprepared discussions (17%), case-based educational presentations (30%), or a combination (28%). The most common classification category was by root case of the error (60%) and preventability (58%). Most departments keep electronic and/or physical M&M reports, while 21% maintain a relational database and 25% do not retain records. While almost all (96%) departments reported participating in at least one national quality improvement program, these are not often linked to the M&M process. Conclusions: M&M is predominantly seen as an educational conference based on a few select cases. Departmental quality is monitored with hospital-driven or national quality improvement efforts. Integration of hospital-based quality metric programs with surgery M&M conference is uncommon and represents an opportunity for hospital-department collaboration.
KW - M&M conference
KW - morbidity and mortality conference
KW - patient safety
KW - quality improvement
KW - survey
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2020.10.008
DO - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2020.10.008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85094884536
JO - Journal of Surgical Education
JF - Journal of Surgical Education
SN - 1931-7204
ER -