Educator-to-Educator Tips & Strategies
Find out how your peers are making the most of Aquifer cases and teaching tools.
Teaching Perspectives & Pearls Blog
Using Integrated Illness Scripts: Framing Case-Based Learning Cases
Youngjin Cho, Ph.D., Jess Cunnick, Ph.D., Brian Wilcox, MD, Ph.D., John Szarek, Ph.D.
Student Perspectives: Practical Tips for Assigning Cases
Aquifer Student Engagement Group
A High-Value Care Course in the Era of COVID-19
Andrew S. Parsons, MD, MPH & Glenn Moulder, MD
Blog Tag: M4
Blogs Archive
April 23, 2020 |
Mastering Summary Statements and SOAP Notes with Aquifer: Essential Skills for Clinical Education
July 29, 2024 |
Effective communication in clinical practice is vital f … Read more
Using Integrated Illness Scripts: Framing Case-Based Learning Cases
February 26, 2023 |
By: Youngjin Cho, Ph.D. (1), Jess Cunnick, Ph.D. (1), B … Read more
Meeting LCME Standards with Aquifer
June 30, 2022 |
Students provide consistently high rankings for Aquifer as reported in our five-star rating feedback data, but how and when cases are integrated into the curriculum can have a significant impact on their learning. Find out what themes emerged when we ask students what methods are most effective–and discover practical tips for assigning Aquifer cases based on student feedback.
What Students are Saying: Social Determinants of Health Cases
January 11, 2022 |
Students provide consistently high rankings for Aquifer as reported in our five-star rating feedback data, but how and when cases are integrated into the curriculum can have a significant impact on their learning. Find out what themes emerged when we ask students what methods are most effective–and discover practical tips for assigning Aquifer cases based on student feedback.
Improving Student Confidence and Performance with an Engaging Hybrid Clerkship
November 30, 2021 | Curriculum Planning
At Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, we are supporting our fourth-year students with flexible online elective rotations by adapting the model we created during COVID. Our virtual asynchronous electives–built with Aquifer cases and WISE-MD modules and implemented on the fly during lockdown–proved valuable to students, earning positive feedback and course reviews. With a few minor modifications, we are continuing this offering in response to student requests and the wide range of time-consuming requirements in the fourth year.
Start Small: Six Activities to Get Started Integrating Basic Science and Clinical Learning
November 17, 2021 | Integrating Basic Science
WISE-OnCall is used by programs across medical and health professions education to help learners diagnose and manage clinical situations they are likely to encounter on clinical clerkships, advanced sub-internships, and during the transition to residency or practice. Here are some successful integration strategies that we’ve heard from faculty users…
Flexibility in the Fourth-Year: Extending Virtual Electives
July 22, 2021 | Curriculum Planning
At Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, we are supporting our fourth-year students with flexible online elective rotations by adapting the model we created during COVID. Our virtual asynchronous electives–built with Aquifer cases and WISE-MD modules and implemented on the fly during lockdown–proved valuable to students, earning positive feedback and course reviews. With a few minor modifications, we are continuing this offering in response to student requests and the wide range of time-consuming requirements in the fourth year.
4 Ways to Use Aquifer High Value Care Across Your Curriculum
June 14, 2021 | Clinical Skills, Exploring Our Content
Aquifer High Value Care, a free course available to all … Read more
Using Integrated Illness Scripts: Three Integration Stories
May 27, 2021 | Integrating Basic Science
WISE-OnCall is used by programs across medical and health professions education to help learners diagnose and manage clinical situations they are likely to encounter on clinical clerkships, advanced sub-internships, and during the transition to residency or practice. Here are some successful integration strategies that we’ve heard from faculty users…
Remediation Part 2: Success Stories & Structures
May 12, 2021 | Remediation
We all know that every student will have a slightly different experience in each of their supervised clinical practice experiences (SCPEs). At our program, we’ve been using Aquifer cases to augment learning, build key communication skills, and supplement clinical experiences to meet ARC-PA standards.
Remediation Part 1: Aquifer Tools & Strategies
April 28, 2021 | Remediation
We all know that every student will have a slightly different experience in each of their supervised clinical practice experiences (SCPEs). At our program, we’ve been using Aquifer cases to augment learning, build key communication skills, and supplement clinical experiences to meet ARC-PA standards.
Building on Basic Science: Integrated Illness Scripts as a Foundational Boundary-Crossing Curricular Tool
April 13, 2021 | Integrating Basic Science
WISE-OnCall is used by programs across medical and health professions education to help learners diagnose and manage clinical situations they are likely to encounter on clinical clerkships, advanced sub-internships, and during the transition to residency or practice. Here are some successful integration strategies that we’ve heard from faculty users…
6 Ways to Use WISE-OnCall to Prepare Your Students for Clinical Responsibilities
March 29, 2021 | Exploring Our Content
WISE-OnCall is used by programs across medical and health professions education to help learners diagnose and manage clinical situations they are likely to encounter on clinical clerkships, advanced sub-internships, and during the transition to residency or practice. Here are some successful integration strategies that we’ve heard from faculty users…
7 Tools for Flipping Your Classroom with Aquifer
March 1, 2021 | Didactic Sessions
Whether you’re searching for ways to engage students in virtual learning, revamping a stale lecture, or building a new didactic session, flipping the classroom around Aquifer cases is a powerful way to engage your students and help case-based learning stick. Check out different ways that medical educators are integrating Aquifer cases into their pedagogy…
5 Ways to Use Aquifer Radiology
February 3, 2021 | Exploring Our Content
The 19 cases in Aquifer Radiology are designed to meet the needs of a wide range of learners and fit into many teaching modalities. Top radiology educators presented their successful strategies for integrating the cases in our recent webinar–find out what they shared…
5 Ways to Use Aquifer Geriatrics
January 4, 2021 | Exploring Our Content
The 27 cases in Aquifer Geriatrics are designed to meet the needs of a wide range of learners and fit into many teaching modalities. Top geriatrics educators from around the country presented their successful strategies for integrating the cases in our recent webinar–find out what they shared…
Teaching About Diagnostic Error: Tools for Creating Space in a Crowded Curriculum
December 14, 2020 | Curriculum Planning, Exploring Our Content
Diagnostic errors are a major source of morbidity and mortality in health care, and there is increasing focus on reducing diagnostic errors in medicine. Fitting these topics into your curriculum can be challenging. To help, I’d like to highlight strategies that educators have found successful using the cases and teaching tools included in Aquifer Diagnostic Excellence.
Lessons Learned from COVID: Trends & Teaching Strategies
November 30, 2020 | Successful Strategies
As the pandemic caused widespread disruption, Aquifer saw an unprecedented jump in the use of our cases–and many innovative ways to use the cases across curricula. Through our grant applications and many ongoing conversations with educators, we were able to identify trends and challenges and gather success stories and strategies to share.
Creating Advanced Compare and Contrast Learning with Aquifer Case Modifications
August 12, 2020 | Clinical Skills
In our Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship, students transitioned patient-based clinical learning from real patient to Aquifer cases in late March. These more advanced level clerks required that virtual cases have increased complexity to adequately challenge them and continue building their clinical skills. In order to meet these learning demands, Aquifer cases were introduced as written and then modified in preceptor lead discussions to encourage further clinical reasoning skill development.
Just-in-time Teaching: Connecting Didactics with Clinical Learning for Community Faculty
August 10, 2020 | Engaging Faculty
Our community faculty are busy clinicians in local health systems or private practice. At several points throughout the clerkship, we provide calendars with the didactic and Aquifer case schedule illustrating the clinical information students will cover on campus. We actively encourage preceptors to engage in discussion with their students about what was covered during these activities outside of their offices to the benefit of both students and preceptors.
Providing Formative Feedback Via Summary Statements
July 16, 2020 | Assessment
In many Aquifer cases, students are asked to write out a one to three sentence summary statement that mimics the communication skills they need on rounds, calling consults, and writing patient progress notes. Reviewing a selection of these statements provides an opportunity for faculty to provide meaningful, targeted feedback on clinical reasoning skills.
Filling a Gap: Creating an Elective on Tough Conversations & End of Life Care
July 8, 2020 | Exploring Our Content
Medical schools have always worked hard to provide fourth-year students with clinical knowledge. But far less time is dedicated to effective, delicately nuanced conversations about diagnoses and prognoses with patients and their families. This gap isn’t new, but it’s being exacerbated by the pandemic. In response, we created an online elective dedicated entirely to learning, thinking about, and practicing these difficult communication skills.
Student Perspectives: Practical Tips for Assigning Cases
June 24, 2020 | Student Perspectives, Successful Strategies
Students provide consistently high rankings for Aquifer as reported in our five-star rating feedback data, but how and when cases are integrated into the curriculum can have a significant impact on their learning. Find out what themes emerged when we ask students what methods are most effective–and discover practical tips for assigning Aquifer cases based on student feedback.
Returning to Real Patients: Preparing with a Virtual Rotation
June 2, 2020 | Preparing for Clinic
Like everyone else, our school needed to develop alternatives for our new fourth-year students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With an uncertain return date for students at a range of clinical sites, we decided to build virtual, asynchronous electives that would help prepare students for their clinical rotations, and especially their Acting Internships. We leveraged a range of case-based online modules to cover different disciplines, including Aquifer and WISE.
Hospital Systems Learning: A Virtual Case-based Framework
May 12, 2020 | Preparing for Clinic
For those of us using virtual education time to prep students for eventual return to clinical settings, using an Aquifer case as a framework for an interactive orientation or hospital operations training session will better prepare students and interns to hit the ground running and take full advantage of rotations which, in many cases, have been shortened in duration.
Strategies for Flipping the Classroom with Aquifer
May 11, 2020 | Didactic Sessions
Aquifer cases can form the basis for a huge variety of classroom sessions that can be easily adapted for virtual learning. Here are some ideas to spark your creativity if you are designing your own activity. Suggested strategies include…
A High-Value Care Course in the Era of COVID-19
April 27, 2020 | Didactic Sessions
It may seem unusual to design and implement a medical student course focused on high-value care in the middle of a pandemic. As third and fourth-year medical students were pulled from clinical duties at the urging of the AAMC, educators at the University of Virginia School of Medicine developed a two-week online course. The course introduced students to an integrative, comprehensive model of high-value care applicable to future clinical practice.
Reframe: Aquifer Cases as Virtual Standardized Patients
April 23, 2020 | Getting Started
Many educators are wondering how to meaningfully engage their students in distance learning activities that create community and allow them to practice important patient care skills (while not seeing patients). While I have been doing peer-to-peer consults with educators around the country about using Aquifer cases in their curriculum, I stumbled into a helpful reframe that seems to be unlocking people’s creativity: Aquifer cases (yep…more than 170 of them!) are virtual standardized patients. Wait…what?
