Teaming to Revitalize the Morbidity and Mortality Conference.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Dynamic collaboration is crucial in internal medicine (IM) morbidity and mortality conferences (M&M) for educational and patient safety goals.
• Traditional M&M conferences may not fully leverage collaborative potential in complex healthcare environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To revitalize the IM residency M&M at Mayo Clinic using teaming principles.
• To enhance resident skills in identifying, reporting, and analyzing patient safety events (PSEs).
• To foster collaboration between residents and institutional leaders for system-wide improvements.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a teaming-based M&M redesign led by a resident-faculty Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) Council.
• Introduction of a case selection tool, QIPS Council case vetting, and a structured timeline for M&M.
• Inclusion of interprofessional institutional leaders to discuss system-wide issues related to PSEs.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in residents' ability to identify PSEs (77% to 93.2%) and analyze PSEs (59.5% to 94.6%).
• Residents showed increased confidence in reporting PSEs (67.6% to 97.2%) and a stronger belief that M&M would improve future patient care (78.4% to 94.6%).
• A majority of residents (82.4%) felt participating in the revamped M&M would change their future practice.

Conclusions:

• Teaming principles successfully transformed the IM residency M&M, enhancing collaboration among residents and leaders.
• The redesigned M&M fostered effective engagement and identified opportunities for system-wide improvements.
• The teaming framework shows potential for application in other areas of the residency curriculum requiring dynamic teamwork.