A Survey-Based Assessment of the Practices Governing Morbidity and Mortality Conferences and the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Advances in Medical Education and Practice (12/11/22) Vol. 13, P. 1515 Tewfik, George; Srinivasan, Nivetha; Rodriguez-Correa, Daniel; et al.

Researchers conducted a survey of the practices governing morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences in U.S. residency programs, including the impact of COVID-19. The 125 responding program directors were from emergency medicine programs, general surgery programs and anesthesiology programs. All of the respondents said their programs included regular M&M conferences attended by residents, while most (99%) said faculty also attended. Eighty-three percent noted that cases chosen for presentation at conferences were self-reported complications. Case presentations were usually presented in Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation, adverse event analysis or root cause analysis formats. Eighty-one percent of program directors saw no changes in frequency of M&M conferences during the pandemic, and 73% said the conference format transitioned to a virtual platform while 22% said it shifted to a hybrid live/virtual format. The evaluation "revealed the ongoing importance of morbidity and mortality conferences in medical education and quality assurance," the researchers said, adding that "the lack of standardization between institutions offers an opportunity for further study."

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