Morbidity and mortality meetings: gold, silver or bronze?

Area of Science:

• Surgical Education
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Morbidity and mortality (M&M) meetings are crucial for surgical education and patient care improvement.
• Current M&M meetings often lack structure, defined objectives, and adequate resource support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate factors impacting the effective conduct of hospital-based Morbidity and Mortality meetings.

Main Methods:

• A rapid systematic literature review was performed.
• Searches included PubMed, Cochrane Library, and York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, plus grey literature (May 2009-September 2016).
• Two independent reviewers selected studies and extracted data, reporting findings narratively.

Main Results:

• Nineteen studies identified enabling factors, while seven identified barriers.
• Enablers included structured meeting formats, case presentation, and a systems focus.
• Barriers comprised absence of key personnel, lack of education, poor process perception, logistical issues, and heterogeneous case evaluation.

Conclusions:

• Standardizing M&M meetings by incorporating identified enabling factors is essential.
• Effective M&M processes ensure valuable review time enhances patient care.
• Addressing barriers can optimize the impact of M&M meetings.