title: Morbidity and mortality conference: a survey of academic internal medicine departments.
abstract: This study sought to determine the prevalence and characteristics of morbidity and mortality conferences (M&MCs) in U.S. internal medicine training programs. Two hundred ninety-five of 416 (71%) surveys were returned. Ninety percent of programs have an M&MC. Most meet monthly, have a designated leader, and entail case discussions of 3 or fewer patients. Cases are selected on the basis of unexpected bad outcomes, teaching value, and to a lesser extent, suspected medical error. Two thirds of the sites use M&MCs to meet administrative requirements for quality assurance. M&MC, while prevalent in internal medicine training programs, has a heterogeneity of focus. Hence, the goals and role of the conference, as judged by this survey, do not appear to be well defined and may warrant further clarification.
authors.affiliation: Section of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology, VA Boston Health Care System, Boston, Mass, USA. Jay.Orlander@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Jay D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Orlander
authors.forename: B Graeme
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Fincke
mesh_terms: D019538:Health Care Surveys; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D009017:Morbidity; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States