Introduction: The morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference is a staple of medical education and quality improvement. While the conference is ideally inclusive, free of judgement, and focused on practice improvement and systems issues, in practice, M&M conferences may not meet these goals of promoting discussion and systems changes. We hypothesized that standardizing the presentation format and providing formal oversight can improve the perceived educational value of the conference and increase the opportunity for systems change related to improved patient care. The goal of this study was to evaluate the subjective impact of the redesigned M&M process at our institution. Methods: The UCSF Department of Urology created a committee comprised of faculty with resident representation to review all submitted M&Ms, implement a standardized presentation template and moderating structure, and track quality improvement measures from proposed systems changes. Subjective attitudes towards the M&M process, including perceived quality/relevance, identification of potential systems changes, inclusiveness, and educational value, were assessed among faculty and trainees using pre- and post-intervention Likert-style surveys. A paired t-test was used to compare responses. Results: 41 completed the preintervention and 33 completed the postintervention survey. Paired t-test analysis showed a statistically significant improvement in all questions between pre- and post-intervention surveys focusing on quality/relevance, practice/systems change, inclusiveness, and educational value. The question about the M&M environment showed improvement but this did not reach statistical significance. The overall average answer on all questions was higher for the postintervention survey compared to the preintervention survey at 2.95 vs. 3.67, (p < 0.001). Attendee role, gender, and the number of conferences attended did not affect the differences. Conclusions: Redesigning the M&M conference in a standardized manner with greater attention to education, inclusion, systems change, and quality improvement improves the attitudes of conference attendees and increases the perceived value of the M&M conference. SOURCE OF Funding: None
