The role of morbidity and mortality meetings in interventional radiology
Introduction
Medical errors are inevitable in any medical specialty. Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) conferences were traditionally implemented by surgeons and anesthesiologists to openly discuss medical errors and complication rates of operations as a means by which to improve surgical outcomes and patient prognosis [1]. Physicians from other specialties such as internal medicine have started to adopt M&M conferences regularly into their practice [2]. Furthermore, many M&M meetings now consist of members from an interdisciplinary team including physicians from other specialties, nurses, and hospital administrators, along with a particular focus on education and teaching for residents and medical students [3].
Interventional radiology (IR) is a relatively new subspecialty compared to their surgical counterparts [4]. As IR has been shown to be generally more cost-effective than alternative surgical treatments, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of IR procedures performed worldwide [5]. Interventional radiology is a procedure-based specialty, which may involve substantial risks and complications to the patients. Thus, M&M conferences specific to IR will allow discussion about preventable medical errors encountered by interventional radiologists and methods that can be adopted to improve patient outcomes.
The goals of this study were to understand the current practice of IR M&M meetings in Europe, and from these data to develop results-based recommendations by which to foster such educational meetings. By increasing the prevalence of M&M meetings, interventional radiologists may reduce preventable medical errors thereby decreasing the morbidity and mortality to improve patient outcomes. Both diagnostic and interventional radiologists in Europe and around the world may benefit from increased education on M&M meetings.
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Materials and methods
Ethics approval for this study was obtained at our institution. Electronic surveys were sent to members of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society of Europe (CIRSE). Each survey consisted of 18 questions pertaining to IR M&M meetings. Respondents were informed that all their responses to questions in the survey would be anonymous. For respondents who held M&M meetings in their departments, respondents were asked about the frequency, content, and satisfaction rate of these
Results
A total of 150 CIRSE members responded to the survey. Of those surveyed, 78% were staff or attending physicians, 15% were IR fellows, and 7% were residents (Table 1). Sixty-two percent (62%) of respondents practiced at an academic teaching hospital. When questioned about the size of their IR practice groups, 53% practiced in a group of 4 or fewer IRs, and 47% practiced in a group of 5 or more IRs.
A total of 47% of respondents practiced in hospitals that hold IR M&M meetings (Table 2). Of those
Discussion
The data demonstrate that interventional radiologists in Europe believe that IR M&M meetings are useful and beneficial to their practice. Regular IR M&M meetings are integral in recognizing and acknowledging the prevalence of medical errors and adverse effects that may be prevented with in-depth reflections and discussions among a group of interventional radiologists.
As interventional radiologists continue to perform more complex procedures, discussing and learning from medical errors will play
Conclusions
The data quantify and demonstrate that there is limited practice of M&M meetings among interventional radiologists in Europe. Interventional radiologists strongly support IR M&M meetings and are interested in learning more about M&M meetings. This study also highlights the need to include M&M meetings in IR practice as a way to learn from preventable medical errors, which may lead to the modification and development of new IR techniques to improve future practice. With increasing awareness of
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank all the respondents of this survey and the CIRSE education committee for supporting the survey.
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Cited by (0)
- 1
Address: Postgraduate Medical Education, University of Toronto, 500 University Avenue, Suite 602, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Tel.: +1 905 330 3084.
- 2
Address: McMaster University MDCL 3010, 1280 Main St West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8 Canada. Tel.: +1 289 218 9756.
- 3
Address: Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego Medical Center, 4094 4th Avenue Suite 200, San Diego 92103, CA, USA. Tel.: +1 416 508 0159.