<P> Morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences are traditional, recurring conferences held by medical services at academic medical centers, most large private medical and surgical practices, and other medical centers . Their use in psychiatric medicine is less evident . Death, deterioration and complications may be unavoidable in some patients due to underlying disease processes . However they may also be associated with errors or omissions in patient care . M&M conferences involve the analysis of adverse outcomes in patient care, through peer review . The objectives of a well - run M&M conference are to identify adverse outcomes associated with medical error, to modify behavior and judgment based on previous experiences, and to prevent repetition of errors leading to complications . Conferences are non-punitive and focus on the goal of improved patient care . The proceedings are generally kept confidential by law . M&M conferences occur with regular frequency, often weekly, biweekly or monthly, and highlight recent cases and identify areas of improvement for clinicians involved in the case . They are particularly important for identifying systems issues (e.g., outdated policies, changes in patient identification procedures, arithmetic errors, etc .) which affect patient care . </P> <P> The results of a survey that endeavored to study the relevance and traits of morbidity and mortality conferences (M&MCs) in the spring of 1998 indicate that 90% of U.S. internal medicine training programs hold M&MCs . The majority of these conferences occur on a monthly basis, where an assigned leader reviews certain select cases that had unpredicted consequences or a suspected medical error . It was also reported that two - thirds of the hospitals use the M&MCs as a means to fulfill their administrative requirements for quality assurance . </P>

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