Intrinsic roles in the crosshair – strategic analysis of multi-site role implementation with an adapted matrix map approach

BACKGROUND: The implementation of competency-based intrinsic roles in undergraduate medical education remains a challenge. Faculties in transition need to be provided with generalizable curricular data in order to facilitate orientation on curricular roles’ representation and to decide on steps of curriculum development. Explicit and implicit representation of objectives and multi-site agreement can be viewed as status indicators for the adoption of roles. Our aim was to develop a pragmatic cross-locational approach to capture roles’ developmental status in an overview and prioritize strategic recommendations. METHODS: Based on the mapping data from six German medical faculties, the relationship between explicit and implicit curricular representation of role’ objectives (weighting) and extent of programs’ consent (agreement) was calculated. Data was visualized in a role-specific Matrix Map to analyse roles’ implicit-explicit relation and risk-value potential. The matrix was combined with Roger’s stages of innovation diffusion for differentiated interpretation of the developmental role status. RESULTS: Entangling multi-site agreement and curricular weighting, the 4-Field-Matrix allows to assess objectives based on their current localization in a quadrant: “Disregard” (lower left) and “Progress” quadrant (upper left) reveal the diffusion period; “Potential” (lower right) and “Emphasis” quadrant (upper right) indicate the adoption period. The role patterns differ in curricular representation, progression and clarity: (1) Scholar: explicit/implicit - scattered across the matrix; most explicit objectives in “Progress”. (2) Health Advocate: explicit – primarily in “Emphasis”; only role in which the explicit representation significantly exceeds the implicit. (3) Collaborator: explicit - mainly “Potential”; implicit - “Progress” or “Emphasis”. (4) Professional: explicit – primarily “Potential” but also “Emphasis”; implicit - “Progress” and “Emphasis”; appears better adopted but scattered in weighting; high hidden curricula. (5) Manager: explicit and implicit - exclusively in “Potential”, without signs of development. Role patterns correspond to evidences from literature. Exemplified with roles, quadrant-specific strategies and measures are suggested. Framework reviewers may gain information for discussion of critical content. CONCLUSION: The Matrix Map enables to catch intuitively the status of intrinsic roles’ profiles regarding role pattern, implicit-explicit relation and programs agreement. Thus, interpretation and informed discussions are fostered. Further target-oriented analyses and strategic developments can be conducted to enhance transparency and resource-efficiency.