Educational quality improvement report: outcomes from a revised morbidity and mortality format that emphasised patient safety

Abstract

Problem: Although morbidity and mortality conferences (MMCs) are meant to promote quality care through careful analysis of adverse events, focus on individual actions or the fear of incrimination may interfere with identification of system issues contributing to the adverse outcomes. Design: Participant attitudes before and after the intervention towards patient safety and conference redesign were assessed using an attitudinal survey. A list of contributing factors, recommended solutions and targeted system improvements was maintained with ongoing progress recorded. Setting: Department of Internal Medicine training programme at University of Missouri-Columbia. Participants: Residents and fellows from the above residency programme. Educational objectives: (1) Distinguish between culture of blame/shame and patient safety culture, (2) identify gaps in quality contributing to adverse outcomes (3) identify strategies to close gaps and (4) participate in root cause analysis, demonstrating an ability to review an adverse event and recommend an action plan. Strategies for change: An interdisciplinary team modified the internal medicine MMC to emphasise a better understanding of patient safety principles and system-based practice interventions. For each adverse event analysed, root causes were identified, followed by discussion of system interventions that might prevent future such events. Key measures for improvement: (1) Attitudes of residents and fellows regarding patient safety, as measured on a 20-item, five-point ordinal scale survey, (2) system improvements generated from the patient safety MMC (PSMMC) and (3) attendance at PSMMC. Effects of change: Clinical outcomes: 121 system improvement recommendations were made and 39 were pursued on the basis of likelihood of achieving high impact changes. 23 improvements were implemented, 11 were partially implemented or in progress, and 5 were abandoned due to impracticality or redundancy. Educational outcomes: 58 residents and fellows completed surveys before and after modification of conference format. 6/20 survey items showed substantial change with four of these changes occurring in the desired direction. Eleven of the remaining 14 responses changed in the desired direction. Average MMC attendance increased from 41¡8 to 50¡10 participants (p,0.03). Lessons learnt: The new PSMMC initiated multiple improvements in the quality of patient care without sacrificing attendance or attitudes of the residents or fellows. The new PSMMC promotes opportunities for participants to improve quality of patient care in a safe and nurturing environment.

Systems-Based Content in Medical Morbidity and Mortality Conferences: A Decade of Change

“…12,[15][16][17][18] Investigations of MMCs have characterized participant attitudes, frequency of adverse events discussed, and hospital changes resulting from events discussed during the conference. However, no studies have specifically assessed the content of the MMC to verify the prevalence of systems issues discussion in the years following the IOM and ACGME recommendations.…”

Surgical Multidisciplinary Rounds

“…24 Efforts to teach this specific core requirement reported in one study were labor intensive, spanning several months as an independent research project. 23 Others have been less comprehensive, consisting of weekly morbidity and mortality conferences, 25,26 or daily "running the list" with a nursing supervisor and case manager. 27 However, given the time and resource constraints placed on both clinical practice and resident work hours, the study team chose to try and teach systems-based practice within the framework of their actual continuous quality improvement process.…”

Critical Incident Reporting System in Teaching Hospitals in Turkey: A Survey Study

“…The survey was based on previous published studies (3,6,11,12,(14)(15)(16) and was pilot tested on eight anaesthetists from our department to avoid misleading, inappropriate or redundant questions. Furthermore, the survey was checked for its compliance with the Helsinki Declaration.…”

“…Patient safety culture should be taught to anaesthesia trainees via a working example (11)(12)(13). In Turkey, anaesthesia training is given in either university hospitals (UHs) or training and research hospitals (TRHs).…”