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

Objective. - To estimate the morbidity and mortality conferences (MMC) impact in intensive care unit (ICU) setting on quality of care and patients' safety. Data sources. - 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 Francaises d'Anesthesie Reanimation and Reanimation journals index. Identification and preliminary analysis performed using title and abstract, for every study related to MMC in the ICU. Study selection. - 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. Data extraction. - Extraction used predefined data fields, including study design, MMC characteristics, assessment methods and results. Data synthesis. - 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. Conclusion. - 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. (c) 2012 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of the Societe francaise d'anesthesie et de reanimation (Sfar).