Matthew Perkins

We at Aquifer love getting feedback from faculty and students, as it helps guide our improvements–including many coming out this spring. Keep reading to learn about key updates regarding Aquifer cases and Calibrate, and our new Educator Dashboards!

Calibrate: Your Most Requested Upgrades

QUESTION & ANSWER EXPLANATION REVIEW

With a focus on student learning and feedback from across the board, our new and improved Calibrate assessment experience is available now.

• Study Mode
  The new exam player allows students to see the answers with immediate feedback after each question, helping them learn “in the moment”!
• To-do Lists
  While reviewing the answer and feedback, they can decide the next step in their learning by adding the related case to their to-do list.

CALIBRATE MANAGEMENT & REPORT UPGRADES

In mid-April, to help you save time and get the information you need, we have Calibrate management and reporting updates coming out for you.

• View Detailed Results for Individual Students
  See item-level details, filter to see trends, and view the status of related to-do items to provide more granular support for your students.
• View Trends to Inform Planning
  Easily view strengths and weaknesses across body systems and clinical foci to inform curricular planning, and track Calibrate student performance across rotations with Student Performance Summary reports.
• Effortlessly Create and Manage Assessments
  Utilize new options to duplicate past exams, quickly add individual and student groupings, and schedule exams ahead of time.

Educator Dashboards

In early May, we’ll be launching Educator Dashboards—a new tool that provides educators with quick access to reports and at-a-glance data—making it simple to see how your program and students are using Aquifer.

• See Your Personalized Data
  Data visualizations based on roles and permissions make it easy to monitor student usage and progress.
• Customize Your Dashboard
  Search, filter, and sort (by date, course, case name, final diagnosis, average time on case, or recommended time) to see only the data you need.
• Easily Access Reports
  Swiftly navigate to detailed reports using report buttons and links on the data visualizations.

Reports & Cases: Recommended Time

In early May, we’ll be updating our reports so you can see low engagement at a glance through the addition of a fourth status. Beyond “not started,” “percent complete,” and “done,” you’ll see a check mark with a red timer if a student has completed the case in under 25% of the recommended time. Our hope is that this will encourage all students to invest the time needed to fully understand and learn from our virtual patient encounters.

Make sure to keep an eye out for more on Reports and Dashboards coming this spring and summer!

Eight members of the Aquifer Consortium have published significant research in Academic Medicine that updates the essential competencies for geriatrics education in medical schools. The article, “Updated Geriatrics Competencies for Graduating Medical Students: Training Physicians to Provide Age-Friendly Care,” addresses a critical need in medical education as the U.S. population continues to age.

The research team, led by Andrea Wershof Schwartz and including Mandi Sehgal, Catherine Dawson, Lisa Granville, Becky Powers, Amit Shah, Amy Sullivan, and Rosanne Leipzig, developed 27 updated competencies organized around the Geriatrics 5Ms framework: Mind, Mobility, Medications, Multicomplexity, and What Matters Most.

The timing of this work is particularly relevant. With older adults approaching 20% of the U.S. population and fewer than 7,000 practicing geriatricians nationwide, it’s essential that all graduating medical students are prepared to provide quality care for older patients, regardless of their specialty.

The updated competencies reflect current priorities in healthcare, including increased focus on health equity, frailty, deprescribing, and patient priorities. The competencies achieved strong consensus, with agreement rates ranging from 93% to 100% among geriatrics experts and 87.5% to 100% among education deans.

This research aligns with Aquifer’s mission to deliver the best healthcare education through collaborative development and innovative teaching methods. The updated competencies provide a framework that will help ensure graduating medical students are prepared to deliver age-friendly care from their first day of internship.

The full article is available in the December 2024 issue of Academic Medicine. See our Aquifer Geriatrics page to learn about our cases and more.

Aquifer and the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) have announced a groundbreaking collaboration aimed at advancing obstetrics and gynecology education for health professions students. This partnership will align Aquifer’s Obstetrics & Gynecology signature course with APGO’s Medical Student Educational Objectives, creating a comprehensive learning experience for students curated by the experts in OB-GYN.

APGO represents academic obstetrician-gynecologists across the United States and Canada, providing educational resources and support to medical educators to promote excellence in women’s healthcare.

“This collaboration with APGO guarantees that our OB-GYN course meets the highest standards of health professions education, meticulously crafted by leading experts in the field. By aligning our efforts, we are committed to fostering student success and ensuring they are exceptionally well prepared for their future clinical practice.”

Emily Stewart
Aquifer Chief Learning Officer

Aquifer is currently seeking Assessment Authors for the Obstetrics & Gynecology course. Medical educators interested in this opportunity are invited to contact Jeanine Gaitan at jeanine.gaitan@aquifer.org.

Aquifer is a unique mission-driven non-profit organization dedicated to delivering the best health care education through collaborative development and research into innovative, high-impact virtual teaching and learning methods.

With more than 15 million virtual patient cases completed since our founding in 2006, Aquifer is the leader in developing clinical learning tools for health professions education.

Aquifer is pleased to announce the formation of a partnership between the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP) and Aquifer. ADMSEP is an association of psychiatric educators dedicated to the education of medical students in the behavioral sciences and psychiatry. Their more than 200 members represent over 75% of US medical schools.

This collaboration will support the creation of Aquifer Psychiatry, our newest signature course. This new addition to our curriculum will cover ADMSEP Learning Goals and Milestones.

Aquifer is looking for enthusiastic volunteers to contribute as case authors. Please click this link to learn more and apply.

Aquifer is excited to announce an opportunity to join a national board of medical students tasked with providing critical feedback on the development of Aquifer’s learning tools. Following the success of our previous Student Advisory Groups, we are now recruiting new medical students to serve on the 2024-2025 Student Advisory Group.

Aquifer—a unique non-profit organization—makes a big impact on medical and health professions education. Used in 90% of U.S. allopathic medical schools, 66% of U.S. osteopathic programs, and a growing number of physician assistant and nurse practitioner programs—with over 16 million virtual patient cases completed since our founding in 2006—Aquifer is a leader in clinical learning.

Aquifer is in the process of developing new learning and assessment tools and improving our learning platform. Student voices and ideas are needed to ensure that our solutions provide the most value to learners.

Selected students will be invited to preview and provide honest, constructive feedback on Aquifer’s new developing learning tools, designed to be used in medical and health professions programs across the country. Feedback from this group will be used to optimize the design of our tools, inform communications, and develop training resources.

Work Commitment

We anticipate the total commitment for a one-year term to be 10-12 hours total.

• Attend 4 1-hour Zoom sessions (October, January, March, May) for deep discussions and brainstorming around designs and value of new features and learning tools. Meetings will be scheduled on weekday evenings.
• Complete up to 1 hour of pre-work in advance of each meeting.
  • Previewing a new learning tool or feature via interactive demo, watching a screencast, or reading/viewing background information or presentations.
  • Completing a preliminary survey with your initial feedback.
• Post-work may be required as follow-up to a meeting to drive our iterative design process. Post work will be no more than 30 min, and will follow the same format as pre-work.
• Optional working sessions on specific tools and features may be offered, giving group members the opportunity to co-design and/or troubleshoot with the Aquifer team.

A letter of recognition will be provided at the end of the year if all requirements are fulfilled.

Eligibility

We are accepting applications from students who have completed Aquifer cases either as part of their coursework or on their own and meet the following requirements:

• Medical students from MD or DO programs who are in their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year
• Interest in medical education and online learning.
• Prepared to give honest, thoughtful feedback in a constructive manner.
• Able to commit to completing all pre-work assignments and attending 4 required meetings.
• Interest in designing new learning tools

Applications close on October 8. Students will be notified of their status on or around October 18. Please contact Megan Hotaling, Aquifer Community Engagement & Events Manager, with any questions.

Aquifer is excited to announce the rollout of new Aqueduct landing pages designed to improve user experience and streamline access to expert content, tools and reports.

The new landing pages are a result of Aquifer’s ongoing commitment to improving user satisfaction and student learning.

Key features:

• Responsiveness. When resizing your browser window, the landing pages will adjust to fit your screen.
• Improved organization. The updated layout ensures tools and resources are prominently displayed and readily accessible, empowering users to make the most of the platform’s offerings.
• Clean design. The fresh look greets users with an inviting interface that encourages exploration and interaction.

With a focus on organization, navigation and aesthetic appeal, the landing pages make using the platform easier.

Take a tour 

The redesign does mean the way you move through Aqueduct will change. We created two short videos, one for educators and one for students, to explain. 

For Faculty:

For Students:

The revamped landing pages reaffirm our dedication to providing the best online clinical learning resources for medical and health professions teachers and learners.

Aquifer is committed to providing contemporary teaching in all aspects of healthcare.

Our team of medical educators has determined that Aquifer Medical Home cases no longer represent the complex topics critical to the effective delivery of care within the medical home model.

Therefore, Aquifer Medical Home will retire permanently on June 30, 2024.

Suggested Next Steps:

• Update your curriculum and syllabus as needed
• Share this news with students or faculty as appropriate
• Download any course reports with student log data related to use of this course before June 30, 2024.

Thank you for your support of Aquifer. We remain committed to providing expert, current content and to our mission of delivering the best health care education through collaborative development and research into innovative, high-impact virtual teaching and learning methods.

Aquifer roles and permissions are changing to better protect student data and information, resulting in a more efficient and FERPA-compliant administrative experience.

These changes affect users in three existing roles:

• Course Managers
• Course Administrators
• Program Service Administrators

Changes

• New Roles
  • Lead Course Administrator (released July 1, 2023): The Lead Course Administrator (LCA) role was created to provide targeted access to student data in Aquifer Signature Course Reports, Aquifer Calibrate Formative assessments, and related reports. Up to three LCAs may be assigned per Aquifer Signature Course. On Nov. 13, Program Service Administrators (PSAs) will be assigned the Lead Course Administrator (LCA) role for any Aquifer Signature Courses that do not already have an LCA in place.
  • Custom Course Manager (released October 18, 2023): The Custom Course Manager role was created to provide targeted access to Course Reports associated with Custom Courses. Custom Course managers will be able to manage users and access Course Reports with student data for only the custom courses to which they are assigned.
• Retired Roles:
  • On Nov. 13, the Course Manager and Course Administrator roles will be retired. Course Managers and Course Administrators previously had access to student data in Course Reports across all Aquifer Signature and Custom Courses. Any users in these roles automatically will be re-assigned as Custom Course Managers.

Program Service Administrators, Curriculum Administrators and Lead Course Administrators will retain their current access to Calibrate, as well as all program, course, and case reports.

The New Roles

Custom Course Managers: 

• Can create custom courses.
• Can access Course Reports for their custom courses.
• Can assign students to their custom course(s).
• Can manage the assignment of other Custom Course Managers or Teachers to their custom course(s).
• Cannot access Signature Course student log data or the Calibrate Assessments tab.

Lead Course Administrators:

• Can access Calibrate Assessments tab, including set up and reporting, for the courses to which they’re assigned.
• Can access Signature Course Course Reports for the courses to which they’re assigned.
• Can manage the assignment of other Custom Course Managers or Teachers to their custom course(s).

Aquifer Signature Courses vs. Custom Courses Explained

Aquifer Signature Courses are the pre-packaged courses that come with your subscription. They may include:

• Aquifer Family Medicine
• Aquifer Geriatrics
• Aquifer Internal Medicine
• Aquifer Neurology 
• Aquifer Pediatrics
• Aquifer Radiology
• Aquifer Clinical Excellence Case Sets 
  • Diagnostic Excellence, High Value Care, Palliative Care, Social Determinants of Health, and Trauma Informed Care
• Aquifer Integrated Illness Scripts

Aquifer Calibrate Formative Assessments are available and included with subscriptions for Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Radiology. 

Custom Courses are customized sets of cases and/or integrated illness scripts assigned to a specific group of students. Custom courses allow you to: 

• Fit cases and integrated illness scripts into your curriculum exactly,
• Create tailored assignments and 
• View targeted student use reports.

What This Means for Your Institution

Program Service Administrators and/or Curriculum Administrators should review user roles and permissions to ensure all users’ roles offer proper access.

• Faculty and administrators who need access to Course Reports and/or Calibrate Formative Assessments for Aquifer Signature Courses should be assigned as a Lead Course Administrators.
• Faculty and administrators who need access to Course Reports for Custom Courses should be assigned as a Custom Course Managers.
• There is a limit of three Lead Course Administrators per Aquifer Signature Course.

Resources

Explore the support articles discussing this change.

• Calibrate Reporting for Administrators
• CDME Administration & Proctors Responsibilities
• Create a CDME Roster
• Creating Custom Courses
• Editing & Removing Custom Courses
• Exam Technical Support Information
• Managing & Removing Administrative Users
• Optimizing Custom Courses
• Student FAQs
• Student Progress Reporting
• User Roles & Permissions

Still have questions?

Contact us and we will be in touch to walk you through the changes.

About Aquifer

Aquifer is a mission-driven nonprofit dedicated to delivering the best health professions education by targeting deep learning. Aquifer is used by 96% of U.S. allopathic medical schools, 66% of U.S. osteopathic medical schools, and a growing number of PA, nurse practitioner, and international programs.

Aquifer is excited to announce an opportunity to join a national board of NP and DNP students tasked with providing critical feedback on the development of Aquifer’s learning tools.

Aquifer relies on our Student Advisory Groups to bring their voices and insights to help us support learners by developing the best possible tools for clinical learning.

Aquifer—a unique non-profit organization—makes a big impact on medical and health professions education. Used in a growing number of nurse practitioner and physician assistant programs and 92% of U.S. allopathic medical schools—with over 15 million virtual patient cases completed since our founding in 2006—Aquifer is a leader in clinical learning.

Aquifer is in the process of developing new assessments, dashboards, interface upgrades, and other learning tools. Student feedback and ideas are needed to ensure that our solutions provide the most value to students.

Selected students will be invited to preview and provide honest, constructive feedback on Aquifer’s new developing learning tools, designed to be used in medical and health professions programs nationwide. Feedback from this group will be used to optimize the technology and content in our tools.

Benefits of Participation

Boost your skill set (and resume) by working closely with educators and expert staff for a leading learning tool in health professions education. Group members will evaluate and analyze each learning tool or project, providing meaningful feedback and ideas that will drive the development of nationally used learning tools.

You will be part of a diverse group of NP students, allowing you to make connections with your peers and collaborate with fellow students from across the country.

This is an ideal opportunity for students interested in building skills in education, curriculum development, leadership, technology, and online learning.

A letter of recognition will be provided at the end of the year if all requirements are fulfilled.

Work Commitment

We anticipate the total commitment for a one-year term to be 10-12 hours total.

• Attend 4 1-hour Zoom sessions for deep discussions and brainstorming around designs and value of new features and learning tools. Meetings will be scheduled on weekday evenings.
• Complete up to 1 hour of pre-work in advance of each meeting.
  • Previewing a new learning tool or feature via interactive demo, watching a screencast, or reading/viewing background information or presentations.
  • Completing a preliminary survey with your initial feedback.
• Post-work may be required as follow-up to a meeting to drive our iterative design process. Post work will be no more than 30 min, and will follow the same format as pre-work.
• Optional working sessions on specific tools and features may be offered, giving group members the opportunity to co-design and/or troubleshoot with the Aquifer team.

Eligibility

We are accepting applications from students who have completed Aquifer cases either as part of their coursework or on their own and meet the following requirements:

• Nurse Practitioner students in good academic standing.
• Interest in medical and health professions education.
• Prepared to give honest, thoughtful feedback in a constructive manner.
• Able to commit to completing all pre-work assignments and meetings.

Applications close on October 15. Students will be notified of their status on our around October 20. Please contact Megan Hotaling, Aquifer Community Engagement & Events Manager, with any questions.

Aquifer is excited to announce an opportunity to join a national board of PA students tasked with providing critical feedback on the development of Aquifer’s learning tools.

Aquifer relies on our Student Advisory Groups to bring their voices and insights to help us support learners by developing the best possible tools for clinical learning.

Aquifer—a unique non-profit organization—makes a big impact on medical and health professions education. Used in 100 physician assistant programs, 97% of U.S. allopathic medical schools, and a growing number of osteopathic and nurse practitioner programs—with over 15 million virtual patient cases completed since our founding in 2006—Aquifer is a leader in clinical learning.

Aquifer is in the process of developing new assessments, dashboards, interface upgrades, and other learning tools. Student feedback and ideas are needed to ensure that our solutions provide the most value to students.

Selected students will be invited to preview and provide honest, constructive feedback on Aquifer’s new developing learning tools, designed to be used in medical and health professions programs nationwide. Feedback from this group will be used to optimize the technology and content in our tools.

Benefits of Participation

Boost your skill set (and resume) by working closely with educators and expert staff for a leading learning tool in health professions education. Group members will evaluate and analyze each learning tool or project, providing meaningful feedback and ideas that will drive the development of nationally used learning tools

You will be part of a diverse group of PA students, giving you the opportunity to connect with your peers and collaborate with fellow students from across the country.

This is an ideal opportunity for students interested in building skills in education, curriculum development, leadership, technology, and online learning.

A letter of recognition will be provided at the end of the year if all requirements are fulfilled.

Eligibility

We are accepting applications from students who have completed Aquifer cases either as part of their coursework, or have used our cases on their own, and meet the following requirements:

• PA students in good academic standing.
• Interest in medical and health professions education.
• Prepared to give honest, thoughtful feedback in a constructive manner.
• Able to commit to completing all pre-work assignments and meetings.

Applications close on August 31. Students will be notified of their status on our around September 7. Please contact Megan Hotaling, Aquifer Community Engagement & Events Manager, with any questions.

Aquifer has wrapped up a seven-month pilot of Aquifer Calibrate, our new formative assessment system for clinical mastery, and is ready to release the system for general use. Based on pilot feedback, the system has been optimized, including improved reports for students, faculty, and coaches, and new student to-do lists to support their embedded learning plans.  Aquifer Calibrate will be included free of charge with all subscriptions to Aquifer Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Radiology beginning July 1, 2023.

About Aquifer Calibrate

Calibrate was developed to meet the needs of our customers by providing formative assessments to students via a stable online platform that will allow students to assess their competence and learning progress and allow faculty to make informed decisions on their curriculum.

These assessments and reports focus on Clinical Learning Calibration to demonstrate whether students, through case learning, are competent and confident in their skills and whether a school’s curriculum and teaching are effective. As a result, Aquifer builds students’ essential knowledge, clinical reasoning, and decision-making skills.

About the Aquifer Calibrate Pilot

Between September 2022 and April 2023 37 health care education programs participated in a pilot program, including

• 21 MD programs
• 2 DO programs
• 8 PA programs and
• 6 NP programs

There were a total of 1038 individual exam administrations during this time period, including:

• 730 administrations at MD/DO programs
• 358 administrations at NP/PA program

A psychometric analysis of the four assessments was conducted, and the exams were found to be statistically reliable and valid. We currently are conducting a comparative analysis of the MD/DO and NP/PA results to determine how best to optimize the assessments for each cohort.

Ultimately, the assessments were found to be valid and accurately measured students’ knowledge and progress over time.

Pilot Feedback Tools and Other Outcomes

Feedback on the pilot program was collected in the following ways:

• Early assessment survey;
• Late assessment survey;
• Student advisory groups;
• Student product interviews
• Calibrate learning plan coach survey;
• Calibrate clerkship lead survey; and
• Feedback that pilot programs provided to peer trainers.

Participants in the pilot were asked to administer the assessment to their students and make coaches available to meet with their students based on the Calibrate results.  Key takeaways from the pilot:

• Participants found the system easy to use
• The majority of students met with a coach at least once
• Students saw value in:
  • Identifying knowledge gaps;
  • Rating confidence and calibrating knowledge and certainty;
  • Access to additional practice questions; and
  • Links directly to Aquifer content.

• Identified areas for improvement:
  • Students had difficulty understanding the reports.
  • Training materials for coaches on how to use Calibrate results to coach a learner were insufficient.
  • As a result, students thought their conversations with their coach/faculty/residents based on their Calibrate results could have been more impactful.

How We’ve Used This Feedback to Improve Calibrate

The pilot feedback has been incredibly valuable in helping the Aquifer product team redesign the reporting and results workflows for students and administrators, and develop additional tools to support students, coaches, and faculty.  Improvements coming for July 1 include:

• Redesigned easier to understand and act on learner
• Embedded Build Your Own Learning Plan tools for students,
• Improved coaching reports and new support tools for coaches to enhance coaching conversations
• Optimized faculty reports to help faculty use reports to identify at-risk learners and identify curricular gaps
• New training and onboarding materials for students and faculty.

For more information, click here to see a video overviewing the changes (view time 4.6min at 1.5x speed). You can also access a clickable tour of new student and coach report views here and the new faculty views here.

Aquifer Calibrate Post July 1

All institutional subscribers to Aquifer Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Radiology, Curricular Partners and Limited Subscribers included, will have access to Aquifer Calibrate automatically included as part of their subscriptions beginning July 1, 2023.

Calibrate access is FERPA-compliant. Once assigned an Aqueduct role with Calibrate access, your faculty and staff will be able to easily schedule exams by logging into Aqueduct, clicking “assessments” from the top menu, assigning students you want to take the exam, and then schedule the assessment. Once submitted, students receive an automated email directing them to login and take the exam.

We are just at the beginning stages of incorporating Aquifer Calibrate into the Aquifer Learning System and will continue to optimize Calibrate going forward, including the following plans, which are already underway:

• Expanding peer-to-peer training opportunities for coaches
• Offering actionable next steps from student results in the form of a to-do list
• Providing opportunities for additional assessment questions for further practice based on student reports
• Exploring AI-driven optimizations to Calibrate
• Building Calibrate assessments for additional Aquifer Courses
• Responding to ongoing faculty and student feedback
• And much more.

Please feel free to reach out and share any additional feedback you have at any time.  We’d love to hear from you at exams@aquifer.org.

Aquifer is excited to share that we have published embedded curricular threads that weave brief, just-in-time teaching on Palliative Care principles directly into 13 of Aquifer’s core cases. In each of these cases, students are asked to make a clinical decision related to that Palliative Care and that specific case, followed by a detailed answer comment and teaching points — adding less than 2 minutes of learning time and providing additional knowledge in an engaging and interactive way.

These integrations represent the first of our Clinical Excellence Integrations, which will be available on a range of topics on July 1, 2023, ensuring that health professions students gain knowledge and skills in areas that are essential to becoming excellent clinicians but that are sometimes overlooked in undergraduate medical education.

A set of thirteen Excellence in Palliative Care cases are available for programs who want more in-depth teaching on this important topic, as part of our new Clinical Excellence Case Set.  With access to both the case sets and curricular threads, programs have the trusted tools needed for introducing topics for early learners, revisiting key principles during relevant core clerkships, and building advanced electives.

Clinical Excellence Case Sets and Embedded Curricular Threads Coming July 1

Aquifer is excited to share two important initiatives launching July 1, 2023, to provide consistent coverage of key interdisciplinary principles and topics students need to understand to provide excellent patient care. Our Clinical Excellence topics cover important but often overlooked or difficult-to-teach topics that don’t have an obvious place in many programs’ curricula. Students feel this gap and are seeking trusted, consistent content in these areas. With the launch of these new content initiatives, faculty can have confidence that Aquifer covers these themes in clinical context throughout the students’ journey through their rotations.

This new content will enhance and expand Aquifer’s coverage of:

• Trauma-informed care
• Palliative care
• Social determinants of health
• High value care
• Diagnostic excellence (reducing medical errors)
• Telemedicine

Clinical Excellence Case Sets, available for purchase July 1, deliver focused, in-depth teaching on these important topics. The Case Sets expand upon our popular interdisciplinary cases with redesigned and updated content paired with new cases in palliative care and trauma-informed care.

New embedded curricular threads will weave key interdisciplinary principles directly into Aquifer’s core cases, providing just-in-time learning for students and allowing programs to ensure coverage without adding faculty time.

With access to both the case sets and curricular threads, programs have the trusted tools needed for introducing topics for early learners, revisiting key principles during relevant core clerkships, and building advanced electives.

“We’ve heard from students that they want to learn about these topics longitudinally throughout their education, through realistic scenarios that mirror what they will experience in clinic. This feedback has driven our development process, and by pairing the curricular threads and Clinical Excellence Case Sets, we are able to give programs the tools they need to provide this cohesive learning journey.”

— Emily Stewart, MD; Aquifer Chief Curriculum Officer

Clinical Excellence Case Sets

Aquifer’s existing interdisciplinary cases will be updated and redesigned, and new cases will be added to form the Clinical Excellence Case Sets. 52 new or optimized interdisciplinary cases will be included in the Clinical Excellence Case Sets, which will be available on July 1 by subscription for the price of one Aquifer course, including:

• Excellence in Palliative Care • 13 cases
• Trauma-Informed Care • 12 cases
• High Value Care • 13 cases
• Social Determinants of Health • 3 cases
• Foundations of Telemedicine • 4 cases
• Diagnostic Excellence • 7 cases

New Course & Case Structure

The Clinical Excellence Case Sets will follow a new, streamlined course and case structure, delivering shorter, more focused cases. This structure debuted with the launch of Excellence in Palliative Care and has now been adopted across the other courses. Cases take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

Each case set begins with a principles module, which covers key definitions, epidemiology, explanations of key principles and why they are important for patient care, and a harm statement that makes it explicit what harm can come to the patient if the principle is not incorporated into practice.

After completing the principles module, students unlock additional application cases that explore realistic case scenarios. Application cases are concise and focus on one area of a patient encounter, and are centered around asking students to make important clinical decisions. Content models evidence-based best practices and communication strategies, exploring the real-world impacts on care and potential harm. At the end of each case, a reflection question asks the students to consider key takeaways, implications for their future practice, or personal wellness. Each application case also includes self-assessment questions that extend the learning to other scenarios.

Embedded Curricular Threads

Excellence in Action: Clinical Excellence Topics

Embedded curricular threads are designed to provide just-in-time learning on key interdisciplinary topics that students need to understand to provide excellent patient care within our core cases without adding significant time to each case (estimated 2 minutes per case). Eighty cases will include one curricular thread on a single clinical excellence topic and ask students to make a clinical decision related to that topic, followed by a detailed answer comment and teaching points—providing this additional knowledge in an engaging and interactive way.

Sample content:

As of July 1, 2023, we will be launching curricular threads in our Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, Pediatrics, Radiology, and Neurology cases to cover all six clinical excellence topics. By adding this content into our core cases, Aquifer is able to provide a consistent learning experience, teaching about these areas in a way that makes sense to students and as they would be encountered clinically through undifferentiated patients.

Although short and concise, these 80 components will make a big impact across Aquifer’s entire curriculum. Faculty and administrative users will be able to easily search and filter cases with embedded threads in the Content Library. This content will be available to all subscribers.

Accessing Clinical Excellence Content

Curricular Partners subscribing to all Aquifer content will have full access to all Clinical Excellence Case Sets and all cases that include embedded curricular threads, providing maximum flexibility and consistency.

Limited subscribers who subscribe to select courses only will have access to embedded curricular threads in their subscribed courses, and the option to purchase the Clinical Excellence case set, including access to 25 new (previously unavailable outside the Curricular Partner package) Palliative Care and Trauma-Informed Care cases, in addition to updated High Value Care, Diagnostic Excellence, Social Determinants of Health, and Foundations of Telemedicine case sets. Limited subscribers who do not choose to subscribe to the Clinical Excellence Case Set will no longer have access to High Value Care, Diagnostic Excellence, Social Determinants of Health, and Foundations of Telemedicine cases.

As of July 1, 2023:

“Our teams of expert medical educators have worked hard to build this content to enhance and extend the learning provided in Aquifer’s growing content library. We are excited to provide these new tools to support programs and faculty in developing the best possible future clinicians,” said Emily Stewart, MD, Aquifer’s Chief Curriculum Officer.

SOC 2 Type 1 Examination Completed for Aquifer’s Teaching & Learning Platform

SOC 2 reports are attestation reports that examine controls at a service organization relevant to the security, availability, and processing integrity and the confidentiality or privacy of the information processed for subscribing programs. SOC 2 reports provide Aquifer’s users with information regarding the design of internal controls relevant to the selected SOC 2 criteria, with the assurance that the information presented has been examined by an independent CPA firm.

“Implementing and maintaining SOC 2 requirements demonstrates Aquifer’s commitment to meeting the most rigorous security, availability, and confidentiality standards in the industry. It verifies that Aquifer’s security controls are in accordance with the AICPA Trust Services Principles and Criteria and that the best practices are built into our way of working, throughout every team – from software development to people operations,” notes Craig Davis, Chief Financial Officer. “Student data security is central to everything that we do.”

“This examination is an important step in showing our users- and their institutions-that we are maintaining best practices and are a trusted partner in their students’ learning journey,” notes Tracy Mullen Cosker, Director of Customer Success. “Advancing the SOC 2 work is one of the many ways Aquifer shows our dedication to our customers.”

Aquifer intends to continually execute and improve upon its internal controls and to provide consistent assurance to its customers via an annual SOC 2 report. Subscribing programs can request a copy of our Type 1 audit report through the Customer Success team.

Aquifer is pleased to announce the selection of participants for our Nurse Practitioner Task Force. This group will bring the voice, interests, and experiences of nurse practitioner educators to Aquifer, and work to develop educator tools and training materials to support nurse practitioner programs using Aquifer.

After a competitive selection process, we are pleased to welcome the following educators from institutions around the country:

• Alicia Collins, DNP, FNP-BC, ADM-BC: United States University
• Elizabeth Espinoza, DNP, CPNP-AC; Oregon Health & Science University
• Christopher Galloway, DNP, APRN-FPA, FNP-BC; Oak Point University
• Amy Haeger, FNP; Rush University College of Nursing
• Danielle Hebert, ANP-BC; UMass Chan Medical School
• Gloria Huerta, FNP-C, AGNP-C, CNS, NHDP-BC; Loma Linda University School of Nursing
• Sheba Luke, FNP-C, NEA-BC; University of Texas Medical Branch
• Sara McCumber, FNP, AGPCNP, GNP,; The College of St. Scholastica
• Jeanne Moore, FNP, AGPCNP, GNP,; The Catholic University of America
• Brittany Nelson, PNP-PC; Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
• Susan Schriefer, PhD, FNP-BC; George Mason University
• Margaret Venzke, FNP-BC; George Washington University SON
• Justin Waryold, ANP-C, ACNP-BC, GS-C; Upstate Medical University

The Aquifer Nurse Practitioner Task Force is led by: 

Marcy Ainslie, EdD, APRN, FNP
Asst. Professor, CHHS
University of New Hampshire
Department of Nursing

After an extensive national search, Aquifer is pleased to announce the appointment of long-standing Aquifer Consortium member, Stephen Scott, MD, MPH, as Aquifer’s inaugural Consortium President, effective July 1, 2022.

In this important new position, Steve will serve as a key member of Aquifer’s executive team and lead all aspects of the Aquifer Consortium’s membership and engagement strategy in support of Aquifer’s non-profit mission, vision and values. A highly collaborative, inclusive and thoughtful leader, Steve will leverage his dedication and passion for Aquifer’s mission, and the unique and vital role of its Consortium and academic partnerships, to successfully lead the Consortium through its next phase of growth, innovation and transformation.

Steve has an extraordinary track record of distinguished leadership and service excellence. He has been a core member of Aquifer since 2007 when he became involved in the initial development and launch of the fmCASES course (now Aquifer Family Medicine) as an original case author and fmCASES editorial board member. As Aquifer evolved, Steve served progressively as a teaching and learning lead, Academic Director for Engagement, and most recently as a member of the Aquifer Strategic Leadership Council. During his tenure as Academic Director for Engagement Steve worked with Dr. Katherine Chretien to lead a team of medical students in The Aquifer Student Engagement: Race and Culture project, which led to a presentation at the AAMC Learn, Serve, Lead Conference, publication of a student-led article in Academic Medicine on guidelines for revising teaching cases to address race and culture issues, and the student-led review and development of recommendations to address race and culture in Aquifer cases.

Currently a Professor in the Department of Medical Education and Advisor to the Dean for Accreditation and Clinical Affiliations at the Texas Christian University School of Medicine, Steve has been instrumental in the development of two emerging medical schools. He arrived at Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar as they were graduating their first class of medical students and served in a variety of roles, including Assistant Dean of Clinical Curriculum and Assistant Dean of Medical Education, working to enhance the curriculum and foster student success, and Associate Dean of Student Affairs where he loved building academic and career advising and mentoring programs to support learners. In 2018 Steve joined the emerging Texas Christian University School of Medicine, a year and a half before they launched their inaugural class. He served as Chairman of the Department of Medical Education, Director of the Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship, and Senior Associate Dean for Educational Affairs and Accreditation, responsible for leading, developing and delivering the medical education program. Steve proudly shares that TCU School of Medicine will be graduating their first class in May of 2023.

A recurring theme throughout Steve’s career is his deeply-rooted passion for supporting the development of empathy, listening and communication skills in learners, and fostering inclusion and diversity. As Consortium President, he is excited for the opportunity to vitalize and amplify the power and beauty of the Aquifer consortium and extended contributor base. In his own words, “Over the past 15 years, Aquifer has connected me with some of the best educators – and people – I know. I continue to be inspired by their brilliance, sense of purpose, and care for learners. While many have designated professional roles as educators, they often take on and give to this work with a dedication that exceeds any formal recognition, fiscal or otherwise. It’s an honor to walk and work alongside them, and I look forward to serving our educators and learners, both within the consortium and beyond, as we seek to make teaching and learning ever more effective, efficient, and accessible.”

After an extensive national search, Aquifer is pleased to introduce Dr. Emily Stewart as Aquifer’s Chief Curriculum Officer. Emily will officially join Aquifer on August 1, 2022.

Emily comes to Aquifer from Thomas Jefferson University where she is currently Associate Professor of Medicine and a practicing hospitalist. A passionate and experienced medical educator, Emily has taken on progressively larger leadership roles in medical education throughout her successful career at Thomas Jefferson. She is currently the Internal Medicine Program Director, leading the educational experience of over 130 residents and four chief residents annually, a position she has held since 2015. At the affiliated Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Emily has served as Internal Medicine Subinternship Director, Course Director for the GATEWAY to Internship course for which she led the development and implementation, and as Co-Clerkship Director for Internal Medicine.

Emily has been named a Top 25 Teacher in the Internal Medicine Residency Program for nine consecutive years. Her accolades include the Hospital Medicine Attending Teaching Award (2017), ACP Pennsylvania Chapter John Derrickson Early Career Physician Service Excellence Award (2016), Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education (2014), and the Department of Medicine “Golden Apple” Teaching Award (2014).

Emily has a strong national presence as a member of the American Medical Association (AMA), American College of Physicians (ACP), Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM), Clerkship Directors of Internal Members (CDIM), and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). She is an invited fellow at the ACP and most recently has served on the AAIM Structured Evaluative Letter Task Force, APDIM Council (treasurer), DynaMed Executive Leadership Board, AAIM Education Committee, AAMC CFAS Member Representative for APDIM, and numerous other professional and scientific committees. She is an experienced speaker both nationally and internationally, and has published academically on a wide range of topics including the Core EPAs, clinical reasoning, use of simulation in medical education, the transition to residency process, and the contemporary burdens facing medical educators.

“Emily’s skills and experience will serve her well as Aquifer Chief Curriculum Officer, leading l all aspects of Aquifer’s academic and curriculum strategy, and overseeing all content, assessment, teaching and learning integration, research, and Consortium operations,” said Dr. Leslie Fall, Aquifer Cheif Executive Officer. “We are excited to welcome Emily to the team at Aquifer. She will be a huge asset as we move forward in advancing health professions education.”