A regular Morbidity and Mortality meeting is held in the Digestive Diseases department so that complications and deaths can be discussed openly and so that any lessons learned can be acted upon.  The Moore-Ridings F1 house officers have an important role here.  They should make sure that any complications or deaths of Moore-Ridings patients are recorded in the appropriate file in the Moore-Ridings folder of the G drive on the level 9A ward computers.  Patients should not be identified by name but instead by their initials, eg Mr E. M. or Mrs T. C.  Patients' age, hospital number, admission date and discharge or death date should be recorded.  It is also recommended to record short and factual details of every case so that F1s do not have to rely too heavily on hospital notes as the next meeting draws near.

F1s should find out the dates of Morbidity and Mortality meetings (currently every 2 months) and for each meeting they should prepare a short powerpoint presentation on any appropriate Moore-Ridings case.  It is a good idea to include educational or illustrative slides such as radiology pictures.  If a patient has had a post mortem examination then the report summary should be given in the presentation.  Extra time should be given to any unforeseen or unexpected complications to search for reasons for the complications and to work out methods of future similar complication avoidance.

After the presentation of each case there is discussion from the floor.  F1s should have studied the hospital notes of each case that they are presenting and they should tackle any questions put to them from the audience.  Difficult questions are usually taken up by Mr Moore or Mr Ridings or the firm registrar.

It can be intimidating presenting at Morbidity and Mortality meetings but it is important for F1s to put themselves forward and to gain practice at presenting.  It is essential for all surgical departments to discuss their complications and deaths in a non-confrontational and professional way to strive for ever higher standards of patient care.