The matrix of ambulatory education.

Ambulatory education has become an essential part of all internal medicine residencies. To develop excellent ambulatory education programs, we must thoroughly understand the opportunities available in such a setting, and the leaders in internal medicine must be willing to experiment with nontraditional locations and rotational formats. An "ambulatory matrix" can be constructed by program directors to help define the educational opportunities available in their institutions and to map the possibilities for educational rotations outside of the hospital wards.