How to assess the impact of morbimortality conferences on healthcare quality and safety in ICU ?

• Published in: Annales françaises d'anesthésie et de réanimation 2012-07, Vol.31 (7-8), p.609-616
• Main Authors: Fassier, T, Favre, H, Piriou, V
• Format: Article
• Language: fre
• Subjects: Bibliometrics; Congresses as Topic - statistics & numerical data; Critical Care - methods; Critical Care - organization & administration; France; Health Plan Implementation; Humans; Intensive Care Units - organization & administration; Intensive Care Units - standards; Morbidity; Mortality; Patient Safety - standards; Professional Practice - standards; Professional Practice - trends; Quality Assurance, Health Care; Quality Improvement - organization & administration; Quality of Health Care; Research Design; Risk Management - organization & administration; Safety Management - organization & administration; United States
• ISSN: 1769-6623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.annfar.2012.04.025

To estimate the morbidity and mortality conferences (MMC) impact in intensive care unit (ICU) setting on quality of care and patients' safety. A review of English and French articles in Medline database (1990-2011) related to MMC in the ICU. Keywords used: "morbidity (and) mortality conference(s)", "intensive care unit", "intensive/critical care medicine". Additional studies identified by hand search in French national guidelines about MMCs and in the Annales Françaises d'Anesthésie Réanimation and Réanimation journals index. Identification and preliminary analysis performed using title and abstract, for every study related to MMC in the ICU. Only original studies about MMC in the ICU setting that reported an assessment were included. Papers reporting guidelines and methods for MMC implementation were excluded. Extraction used predefined data fields, including study design, MMC characteristics, assessment methods and results. Studies about MMC in the ICU are recent and scarce. Results comparison and synthesis are impaired by discrepancies in study designs. Although the effectiveness of MMC is not evidence-based, data are consistent for their positive impact on quality of care and patient safety in the ICU. Further studies are required to assess the impact of MMC in the ICU. Based on this literature review, a 4-level evaluation scheme can be suggested: 1) evaluation of MMC implementation in care units and facilities; 2) evaluation of MMC organization; 3) evaluation of MMC on quality of care; 4) evaluation of MMC impact on patients' mortality and morbidity.