The following is a guest post by Dr. Leo Gordon, a surgeon from Los Angeles.
A recent paper in Annals of Surgery found that 24% of graduating surgical residents "were unable to recognize early signs of complications." One possible solution is a redesign of the morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference .
I have spent a significant part of my professional life in an effort—at this point it is a crusade—to change the nature of the M&M conference. For 11 years, I moderated 495 conferences, 1485 presentations, and 30 written examinations based on the error and complication-reducing points raised during the discussions.
If properly implemented, a redesigned M&M conference can satisfy the ACGME core competencies, the suggestions of the Institute of Medicine, and the public's demand for a reduction in medical errors.
What I have dubbed the "M&M Matrix" converts the weekly conference into a vibrant educational effort and creates a constantly updated patient safety curriculum for the resident and attending staff.
If the M&M Matrix is such a valuable idea, why hasn’t it been widely adopted?
Here are the reasons:
