Variations in the perception of trauma-related complications between attending surgeons, surgery residents, critical care nurses, and medical students.

Background: The morbidity and mortality conference (M&M) is a key component of the performance improvement process. The audience response system (ARS) has been shown to improve audience participation and promote more truthful responses in various settings. We implemented the ARS in our trauma M&M and evaluated the responses we received from different categories of participants.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study undertaken between November 2006 and July 2007. Cases were graded based on the American College of Surgeons scoring system. We evaluated the responses of attending surgeons, residents, critical care nurses, and medical students using the ARS.

Results: We had 695 responses for complications and 936 responses for deaths. Residents consistently scored complications as more severe than other groups (P = .03). There was no difference in the scoring of deaths.

Conclusions: Surgical residents assign higher severity to trauma-related complications than other groups when using an anonymous automated scoring system.