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

BACKGROUND: Morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences are essential components for resident education and provide a valuable tool to improve patient safety and quality of care. M&M conferences help identify important gaps in safety and reduce avoidable events in future patient care. Active methods to improve the utilization of M&M conferences have been shown to enhance their educational value for residents, faculty and multidisciplinary teams in healthcare institutions. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to use a survey-based methodology to assess how morbidity and mortality conferences are conducted in residency programs, including characteristics such as frequency, involvement of personnel and the effects of COVID-19. METHODS: From February to October 2021, a validated 19 question survey was electronically distributed to residency program directors in anesthesiology, emergency medicine and general surgery, after a search for email addresses in the ACGME database. The survey was created and hosted on Google Forms. RESULTS: A total of 125 of 713 program directors (17.5%) responded to the survey. Eighty-three percent of respondent programs reported mandatory participation for residents, with residents providing most of the presentations. Case presentations utilized various formats including SBAR, adverse event analysis and root cause analysis as the most common modalities. Though most programs reported no change in frequency of M&M conferences due to COVID-19, most respondents reported a shift to a virtual or hybrid platform. CONCLUSION: M&M conferences are an important educational and quality improvement modality, and many residency directors changed practice to incorporate virtual platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain uninterrupted educational sessions. Nonetheless, significant variation still exists in how these conferences are conducted between different institutions.