Morning conferences for anaesthesiologists - to be or not to be?

BACKGROUND

The main objectives of this study were to clarify the contents of and attitudes to morning conferences for physicians at Swedish departments of anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine.

METHODS

A prospective cross-sectional three-part study was carried out. Heads of departments responded to a national survey on the structure and content of morning conferences. A questionnaire on attitudes to and general contents of morning conferences was filled out by anaesthesiologists in the Scania region in southern Sweden. Furthermore, telephone interviews were made with anaesthesiologists on primary night call in the Scania region to obtain information on whether their needs to report had been met and on how the conferences had actually been carried out and attended by the physicians.

RESULTS

Information was obtained from 52 departmental heads (80%), 113 anaesthesiologists (53%), and 83 physicians on primary call (92%). Issues most frequently brought up were reports from physicians on night call, discussions of clinical matters, issues of staffing, and organizational matters. Daily morning conferences were strongly favoured for intercollegial solidarity and contacts, and were mainly and regularly used for reports from physicians on night call. At 95% of them, physicians on night call considered themselves to have been allowed to report what they wanted or needed to.

CONCLUSIONS

Daily morning conferences enable regular exchange of information and professional experience, and are considered by Swedish anaesthesiologists to be most valuable for intercollegial solidarity and contacts. Before changes are being made in frequency or duration of morning conferences, their actual structure and content should be carefully evaluated and critically challenged to fit specific needs of that individual department.