Supporting Residents as Teachers and Learners with Aquifer Cases

Guest: Michael Dell, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Vice Chair for Education at Case Western Reserve University SOM and a pediatrician at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. Aquifer Pediatrics – Senior Director & Case Author.

Dr. Dell is an enthusiastic proponent of using virtual cases across the continuum of medical education, including with advanced learners like residents and interns. In this episode, Dr. Dell describes how he incorporates cases into his Residents as Teachers Curriculum, replacing lectures with noon conferences. In their flipped classroom model, residents run the conference like rounds leading a discussion about an Aquifer case framed as the ‘virtual patient you admitted the night before’ and incorporating rich what- if and compare and contrast scenarios. Dr. Dell also shares a successful collaboration with residents to create a case-based orientation curriculum for acting interns that eased their transition to the hospital setting. The curriculum included instruction about essential content as well as practical tips on how to get things done in the hospital.

Full show notes can be found here.

Engaging Learners through Teleprecepting

Guest: Cynthia (Cindy) Lord, PA-C, Associate Professor and Founding Director, Case Western Reserve University Physician Assistant Program, Cleveland, OH.

When the COVID pandemic severely limited student access to clinical teaching sites and preceptors, Cindy Lord developed a teleprecepting program to simulate traditional precepting during a rotation. Aquifer cases formed the basis of learner-centered virtual small group sessions facilitated by a telepreceptor. The sessions provided a means of achieving educational equivalence across teaching sites and instructors, filling curricular gaps, enhancing student learning, and afforded opportunities for the development of mentor/mentee relationships. The teleprecepting program proved so valuable that it is now a regular part of PA education at Case Western Reserve University.

Full show notes and links to supplemental materials can be found here.