Monitoring and improving the content of medical residents' ambulatory care experience: a microcomputer-based method using diagnosis clusters.

Changing patterns of medical practice necessitate increased experience in ambulatory settings for internal medicine residents. Residency program directors must monitor the content and balance of the ambulatory care experience. Evaluation of ambulatory care educational programs requires a concise method of describing the illnesses seen in each outpatient setting and of monitoring individual resident activities. The authors present an easily applied, microcomputer-based method of analysis using diagnosis clusters that has been found to be useful in evaluating and modifying the ambulatory care curriculum at their institution. It provides a concise description of individual ambulatory settings, affords an opportunity to compare each setting with national norms, and identifies areas of inadequate exposure in each resident's experience.