Morbidity and Mortality Conferences: A Mini Review and Illustrated Application in Veterinary Medicine

Abstract

This mini review presents current knowledge on the role of morbidity and mortality conferences (M&MCs) as a powerful educational tool and driver to improve patient care. Although M&MCs have existed since the early twentieth century, formal evaluation of their impact on education and patient care is relatively recent. Over time, M&MCs have evolved from single discipline discussions with a tendency to focus on individual errors and assign blame, to multidisciplinary, standardized presentations incorporating error analysis techniques, and educational theory. Current evidence shows that M&MCs can provide a valuable educational experience and have the potential to generate measurable improvements in patient care.

Keywords: adverse events; complications; errors; meeting; morbidity and mortality conference; rounds.

Figure 1

Fishbone diagram used to facilitate root cause analysis. The adverse event is listed at the “head” and potential contributory factors are examined to establish a cause and effect relationship. See Presentations S1 and S2 in Supplementary Material for an example.