Morbidity and Mortality Meeting

The Morbidity and Mortality Conference (M&M) conference is a format of regular conferences on the analysis of postoperative complications and causes of death in patients at the hospital, which are traditionally held by medical services in American clinical institutions. Such meetings are held for the purpose of discussion and expert evaluation of errors that occur during treatment. The goal of a well-planned M&M conference is to train medical personnel, change practices and prevent medical errors that lead to complications in patients ^[1] .

The format of meetings on morbidity and mortality was proposed in the early 1900s by the American surgeon Ernest Codman at the Massachusetts General Hospital, MGH. Codman's ideas contributed to the standardization of clinical practice, for example, the introduction by the American College of Surgeons in 1916 of a system of reports on responsibility for adverse outcomes. As the medical profession developed, it became a habit for doctors to discuss their mistakes at M&M conferences, where conclusions on the results of autopsy were also presented. In 1983, the United States Accreditation Board for Postgraduate Medical Education (ACGME) introduced a requirement for accredited residency programs to conduct weekly reviews of complications and mortality.