Understanding Quality Issues in Your Surgical Department: Comparing the ACS NSQIP With Traditional Morbidity and Mortality Conferences in a Canadian Academic Hospital

Morbidity and mortality meetings: gold, silver or bronze?

“…A structured meeting format , to assist in keeping discussions focussed on important issues, and to ensure the quality, consistency, and rigour and time limits for case presentations A structured process for case identification , to improve quality and consistency of reporting of complications to the M&M review process, and ensure case mix is diverse for the educational benefit of participants A structured case presentation format , to ensure that case discussions are thoroughly prepared, and all underlying contributing factors are investigated .…”

“…In this review, we identified factors that impact M&M meetings run by surgical services. The most commonly identified factors that positively assisted M&M meetings included having a consistent structure for meetings and case presentations, 1,3,6,[11][12][13][14]16,[19][20][21]24,26 the use of appropriate tools and software, 14,15,17,19,22,25 a focus on systems issues rather than individual issues 1,14,[16][17][18] and follow-up of recommendations for change. 1,3,13,17 Dedicated staff will be needed to assist all stages of this process.…”

“…In total, 19 studies identified enablers, 1,3,6,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] and seven identified barriers, 1,3,19,21,[27][28][29] noting that some studies provided information relevant to both. Characteristics of the included studies are reported in Tables 1 and 2.…”

“…Nineteen studies reported factors that enable the effective conduct of M&M meetings. 1,3,6,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Across the included studies, the main factors affecting M&M meetings were categorized into three main themes: format, conduct and outcomes.…”

A profile of morbidity and mortality rounds within resident training programs of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons

“…Such relationships are well established in human medicine; programs such as the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Programs (NSQIP) have been shown to capture more complications and quality issues when paired with MMR than either method alone. The ACS has estimated that, by combining these methodologies, these programs save 12‐36 lives and prevent 250‐500 complications annually, producing significant cost savings for each hospital enrolled …”