• Kristin E Schwab, Wendy Simon, Myrtle Yamamoto, Anna Dermenchyan, Xueqing Xu, Yuhan Kao, Alexander Zider, Faisal Shaikh, Bryan Garber, Elinor Lee, Zafia Anklesaria, G Sofia Nelson, Allison Ramsey, and Thanh H Neville.
• Kristin E. Schwab is clinical instructor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
• Am. J. Crit. Care. 2021 Mar 1; 30 (2): e32-e38.

BackgroundSignificant resources have been allocated to decreasing the number of preventable deaths in hospitals, but identifying preventable factors and then leveraging them to effect system-wide change remains challenging.ObjectiveTo determine the ability of a novel in-person, multidisciplinary "rapid mortality review" process to identify deaths that are preventable and action items that lead to improvements in care.MethodsRapid mortality review sessions were conducted weekly for patients who died in the medical intensive care unit. Patient data and clinician opinions regarding preventable deaths were discussed and recorded. Bivariate analyses were done to detect associations between case variables and the formation of an action item.ResultsFrom 2013 to 2018, 542 patient deaths were reviewed; of those, 36 deaths (7%) were deemed potentially preventable. Facilitators identified issues in 294 cases (54%). A total of 253 action items were identified for 175 cases (32%); 60% of those action items were subsequently completed and led to tangible systemic change in 29 instances (11%). Action items were more likely to be identified for patients who had not been receiving comfort care (P < .001), for patients who had received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (P < .001), when the treatment team (P < .001) or the rapid mortality review facilitator (P < .001) had care-related concerns, and when the patient's death had been preventable (P < .001).ConclusionsEven in settings with low reported rates of preventable deaths, an in-person multidisciplinary mortality review can successfully identify areas where care can be improved, leading to systemic change.©2021 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

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