Aquifer Family Medicine

Exam Room
In collaboration with:
Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM)
The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM)

The 40 interactive virtual patient cases in AquiferSM Family Medicine deliver on the learning objectives of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine’s (STFM) clerkship curriculum, powered by AqueductSM, Aquifer’s teaching and learning platform.

Overview

Aquifer Family Medicine (formerly fmCASES) builds clinical competency, fills educational gaps, and helps instill the core values and attitudes of family medicine. The course fosters self-directed and independent study, develops clinical problem-solving skills, and teaches an evidence-based, patient-centered approach to patient care.

Coming July 1: Embedded Curricular Threads

New embedded threads will provide consistent teaching on interdisciplinary Clinical Excellence topics throughout Aquifer’s core courses. Family Medicine cases will include new content woven into our existing cases to highlight key principles in palliative care, trauma-informed care, social determinants of health, high value care, diagnostic excellence, and foundations of telemedicine. Learn more…

  • Created for educators, by educators, to cover the full range of STFM curriculum
  • Available for institutional subscription or for direct purchase by individual subscribers
  • Access to Aquifer Calibrate: Transformative Assessments for Clinical Learning Mastery, our innovative system for formative assessment, available with your 2023-24 subscription
  • Proven pedagogy that standardizes experiences—overcoming geography, seasonality, and accessibility
  • Evidence-based, peer-reviewed, and continuously updated content
  • Self-assessment questions emphasize key content and enable students to test their knowledge and skills
  • A wealth of source material, tools, and full references in each case
  • Delivered via the Aqueduct teaching and learning platform, which includes user management options, easy reporting on student progress and course usage, plus tools for creating custom courses to match a specific curriculum
  • Access to Aquifer Calibrate: Transformative Assessments for Clinical Learning Mastery, our innovative system for formative assessment, available to Aquifer 2022-23 Curricular Partners

This course covers the complete STFM Family Medicine Clerkship Curriculum. Course content includes five Aquifer Pediatrics cases and two Aquifer Internal Medicine cases to help cover the full range of family medicine learning objectives.

Self Assessment Questions, included with the course content, are a valuable component of the learning and have been shown to improve student performance on exams (Seagrave et al, 2016).

Aquifer Family Medicine can be used by third-year medical students, Physician Assistant students, and Nurse Practitioner students as a complement to a clerkship or course on family medicine.

Research has shown that students who complete more cases perform better on the Aquifer Family Medicine exam (Chessman et al, 2013). Even if you aren’t requiring all 40 cases, we recommend encouraging your students to complete as many cases as possible.

Aquifer Calibrate, an innovative system for formative assessments, is in development for Aquifer Family Medicine. The new assessments will combine the concepts of test-enhanced learning and distributed practice to facilitate efficient study planning and self-directed learning for students, and identify at-risk students and curricular gaps for faculty.

Our current 100-question summative multiple-choice exam will continue to be available through June 2023. 

Aquifer’s online, validated summative exam is included with your Aquifer Family Medicine course subscription. Unlike the NMBE, our 100-item, multiple-choice exam was created by Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) educators as an assessment tool based specifically on the Family Medicine clerkship curriculum.

The exam is delivered in a secure browser and accompanied by student assessment reports with individual and class data. It can be used to replace or enhance an existing comprehensive assessment or to remediate students. The exam has also been found to improve NBME performance when used as a pre-test (Nguyen 2018).

A study of 130 medical students at one institution found the percent correct on the Aquifer Family Medicine and NBME examinations were highly correlated (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.607). Using linear regression, performance on the Aquifer Family Medicine exam was a very strong positive predictor of subsequent NBME scores (p=.00000000000002) (Sussman, 2012).

Family Medicine 01: 45-year-old female wellness visit

Family Medicine 02: 55-year-old male wellness visit

Family Medicine 03: 65-year-old female with insomnia

Family Medicine 04: 19-year-old female with sports injury

Family Medicine 05: 30-year-old female with palpitations

Family Medicine 06: 57-year-old female diabetes care visit

Family Medicine 07: 53-year-old male with leg swelling

Family Medicine 08: 54-year-old male with elevated blood pressure

Family Medicine 09: 50-year-old female with palpitations

Family Medicine 10: 45-year-old male with low back pain

Family Medicine 11: 74-year-old female with knee pain

Family Medicine 12: 16-year-old female with vaginal bleeding and UCG

Family Medicine 13: 40-year-old male with a persistent cough

Family Medicine 14: 35-year-old female with missed period

Family Medicine 15: 42-year-old male with right upper quadrant pain

Family Medicine 16: 68-year-old male with skin lesion

Family Medicine 17: 55-year-old post-menopausal female with vaginal bleeding

Family Medicine 18: 24-year-old female with headaches

Family Medicine 19: 39-year-old male with epigastric pain

Family Medicine 20: 28-year-old female with abdominal pain

Family Medicine 21: 12-year-old female with fever

Family Medicine 22: 70-year-old male with new-onset unilateral weakness

Family Medicine 23: 5-year-old female with sore throat

Family Medicine 24: 4-week-old female with fussiness

Family Medicine 25: 38-year-old male with shoulder pain

Family Medicine 26: 55-year-old male with fatigue

Family Medicine 27: 17-year-old male with groin pain

Family Medicine 28: 58-year-old male with shortness of breath

Family Medicine 29: 72-year-old male with dementia

Family Medicine 30: 27-year-old female labor and delivery

Family Medicine 31: 66-year-old female with shortness of breath

Family Medicine 32: 33-year-old female with painful periods

Family Medicine 33: 28-year-old female with dizziness

Pediatrics 01: Newborn male infant evaluation and care

Pediatrics 02: Infant female well-child visits (2, 6, and 9 months)

Pediatrics 03: 3-year-old male well-child visit

Pediatrics 04: 8-year-old male well-child check

Pediatrics 13: 6-year-old female with chronic cough

Internal Medicine 02: 60-year-old female with episodic chest discomfort

Internal Medicine 16: 45-year-old male with obesity

From Our Cases

User Story

Learn how Aquifer Family Medicine can benefit medical students and faculty in your program:

Academic Presentation

Aligning the National Clerkship Curriculum, the NBME, and Aquifer Family Medicine’s Learning Objectives for Enhanced Curricular Mapping

From the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Medical Student Education Conference 2021:

Aquifer Family Medicine Course Board

Aquifer Internal Medicine

Aquifer Internal Medicine
Aquifer Internal Medicine
In collaboration with:
Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine

The 36 interactive virtual patient cases in Aquifer Internal Medicine deliver on the learning objectives of Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine’s (CDIM) General Internal Medicine Core Medicine clerkship curriculum.

Overview

Aquifer Internal Medicine builds clinical competency and fills educational gaps in internal medicine curricula. The course fosters self-directed and independent study, develops clinical problem-solving skills, and teaches an evidence-based, patient-centered approach to health care.

Important Update to Internal Medicine Case 3

Aquifer Internal Medicine 03 – 54-year-old female with Syncope, has been updated, and is now called Aquifer Internal Medicine 03 – Four Patients with Syncope. It is available for all Aquifer Internal Medicine subscribers as of July 1, 2022.

The updated version of this case now follows four different patients instead of one, each of whom has the same concern, but with differing etiologies. By covering four patients with the same concern, the updated case allows students to sharpen their clinical reasoning skills. Learn more…

Coming July 1: Embedded Curricular Threads

New embedded threads will provide consistent teaching on interdisciplinary Clinical Excellence topics throughout Aquifer’s core courses. Internal Medicine cases will include new content woven into our existing cases to highlight key principles in palliative care, trauma-informed care, social determinants of health, high value care, diagnostic excellence, and foundations of telemedicine. Learn more…

  • Created for educators, by educators, to cover the full range of CDIM’s curriculum
  • Available for institutional subscription or for direct purchase by individual subscribers
  • Access to Aquifer Calibrate: Transformative Assessments for Clinical Learning Mastery, our innovative system for formative assessment, available with your 2023-24 subscription
  • Innovative Clinical Decision-Making Exam in the key features format available at no additional cost
  • Proven pedagogy that standardizes experiences—overcoming geography, seasonality, and accessibility
  • Evidence-based, peer-reviewed, and continuously updated content
  • Self-assessment questions emphasize key content and enable students to test their knowledge and skills
  • A wealth of source material, tools, and full references in each case
  • Delivered via the Aqueduct teaching and learning platform, which includes user management options, easy reporting on student progress and course usage, plus tools for creating custom courses to match a specific curriculum

Realistic case scenarios that demonstrate best-practices create an invaluable bridge from content to practice for our students. Aquifer Internal Medicine cases help students to develop the clinical reasoning skills critical to becoming a successful practitioner.

Although designed for use by third-year medical students, Aquifer Internal Medicine is an excellent learning tool for many healthcare professionals. Cases can be assigned to supplement clinical experience to ensure students encounter all of the desired cases in internal medicine, removing the chance that they will miss key clinical experiences.

Formerly the Key Features Exam

The Aquifer Internal Medicine Clinical Decision-Making Exam aligns directly with CDIM’s national curriculum and provides a unique way to assess individual students’ clinical decision-making skills. This exam, validated in a recent study published in Academic Medicine, focuses on challenging decisions in diagnosis and management to target critical decision points that students will encounter in clinical practice.

Aquifer Calibrate, an innovative system for formative assessments, is in development for Aquifer Internal Medicine. The new assessments will combine the concepts of test-enhanced learning and distributed practice to facilitate efficient study planning and self-directed learning for students, and identify at-risk students and curricular gaps for faculty.

After completing each case, students will have the option of calibrating their ability to apply their new knowledge and skills by completing five single-best answer vignette style self-assessment questions. Each question includes clear explanations of the correct and incorrect responses for immediate feedback to students. All self-assessment questions for this course are new as of the 2018-19 subscription year.

Internal Medicine 01: 49-year-old male with chest pain

Internal Medicine 02: 60-year-old female with chest pain

Internal Medicine 03: 54-year-old female with syncope

Internal Medicine 04: 67-year-old female with shortness of breath and lower-leg swelling

Internal Medicine 05: 55-year-old male with fatigue

Internal Medicine 06: 45-year-old male with hypertension

Internal Medicine 07: 28-year-old female with lightheadedness

Internal Medicine 08: 55-year-old male with chronic disease management

Internal Medicine 09: 55-year-old female with upper abdominal pain and vomiting

Internal Medicine 10: 48-year-old female with diarrhea and dizziness

Internal Medicine 11: 45-year-old male with abnormal liver chemistries

Internal Medicine 12: 55-year-old male with lower abdominal pain

Internal Medicine 13: 65-year-old female seen for annual physical

Internal Medicine 14: 18-year-old female for pre-college physical

Internal Medicine 15: 50-year-old male with cough and nasal congestion

Internal Medicine 16: 45-year-old male who is overweight

Internal Medicine 17: 28-year-old male with a pigmented lesion

Internal Medicine 18: 75-year-old male with memory problems

Internal Medicine 19: 42-year-old female with anemia

Internal Medicine 20: 48-year-old female with HIV

Internal Medicine 21: 78-year-old male with fever, lethargy, and anorexia

Internal Medicine 22: 71-year-old with cough and fatigue

Internal Medicine 23: 54-year-old female with fatigue

Internal Medicine 24: 52-year-old female with headache, vomiting, and fever

Internal Medicine 25: 75-year-old female with altered mental status

Internal Medicine 26: 58-year-old male with altered mental status and experiencing homelessness

Internal Medicine 27: 65-year-old male with hypercalcemia

Internal Medicine 28: 70-year-old male with shortness of breath and cough

Internal Medicine 29: 55-year-old female with fever and chills

Internal Medicine 30: 55-year-old with leg pain

Internal Medicine 31: 40-year-old male with knee pain

Internal Medicine 32: 39-year-old female with joint pain

Internal Medicine 33: 49-year-old female with confusion

Internal Medicine 34: 55-year-old male with low back pain

Internal Medicine 35: 35-year-old female with three weeks of fever

Internal Medicine 36: 49-year-old male with ascites

From Our Cases

New Educator Guide Available

Internal Medicine Educator Guide
Course Overview – Integration Strategies – Case Synopses – Learning Objectives – Features & Resources

The Educators Guide—available to all subscribers—provides a quick reference guide for all cases, resources, and features included with Aquifer Internal Medicine. The Educator Guide is ideal for educators who are getting started using Aquifer, or experienced users who want to be sure they are taking advantage of Aquifer’s extensive resources and tools.

Educator Guides are available in the Educator Resources section of your Aquifer account. Learn more…

User Story Video

Learn how Aquifer Internal Medicine can benefit medical students and faculty in your program:

Aquifer Internal Medicine Course Board

Aquifer Pediatrics

Aquifer Pediatrics
Aquifer Pediatrics
In collaboration with:
The Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP)
The Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP)

The 32 interactive virtual patient cases in Aquifer Pediatrics deliver on the learning objectives of the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP) clerkship curriculum.

Overview

Aquifer Pediatrics helps students develop clinical reasoning skills critical to becoming a successful practitioner. Our virtual cases provide key content correlated to COMSEP’s learning objectives—a proven path to success in developing clinical reasoning skills.

Coming July 1: Embedded Curricular Threads

New embedded threads will provide consistent teaching on interdisciplinary Clinical Excellence topics throughout Aquifer’s core courses. Family Medicine cases will include new content woven into our existing cases to highlight key principles in palliative care, trauma-informed care, social determinants of health, high value care, diagnostic excellence, and foundations of telemedicine. Learn more…

  • Created for educators, by educators, to cover the full range of COMSEP’s curriculum
  • Available for institutional subscription or for direct purchase by individual subscribers
  • Access to Aquifer Calibrate: Transformative Assessments for Clinical Learning Mastery, our innovative system for formative assessment, available with your 2023-24 subscription
  • Proven pedagogy that standardizes experiences—overcoming geography, seasonality, and accessibility
  • Evidence-based, peer-reviewed, and continuously updated content
  • Self-assessment questions emphasize key content and enable students to test their knowledge and skills
  • A wealth of source material, tools, and full references in each case
  • Course-specific student and educator resources, including active learning modules (TBL-style application exercises), interactive table of childhood developmental milestones, and a case analysis tool
  • Delivered via the Aqueduct learning management system, which includes user management options, easy reporting on student progress and course usage, plus tools for creating custom courses to match a specific curriculum

With realistic case scenarios that demonstrate best practices, our course builds a bridge from content to practice for our students. Aquifer Pediatrics’ interactive virtual patient cases are based on the COMSEP curriculum, recently revised for renewed and improved attention to clinical reasoning process. The cases ensure that students are exposed to all the various clinical scenarios, irrespective of location or time of year.

Aquifer Pediatrics can be used by third-year medical students, PA students, and Nurse Practitioner students as a complement to a clerkship or course on pediatrics. The complementary Aquifer Pediatrics Exam can be used as a summative course exam or as practice for another standardized exam.

Aquifer Calibrate, an innovative system for formative assessments, is in development for Aquifer Pediatrics. The new assessments will combine the concepts of test-enhanced learning and distributed practice to facilitate efficient study planning and self-directed learning for students, and identify at-risk students and curricular gaps for faculty.

Our current 100-question summative multiple-choice exam will continue to be available through June 2023. Aquifer’s online validated summative exam includes 100 multiple-choice questions created by the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP) leaders as an assessment tool based specifically on the pediatrics clerkship curriculum.

The exam is delivered in a secure browser and accompanied by student assessment reports with individual and class data. It can be used to replace or enhance an existing comprehensive assessment or to remediate students.

Pediatrics 01: Newborn male infant evaluation and care

Pediatrics 02: Infant female well-child visits (2, 6, and 9 months)

Pediatrics 03: 3-year-old male well-child visit

Pediatrics 04: 8-year-old male well-child check

Pediatrics 05: 16-year-old female health maintenance visit

Pediatrics 06: 16-year-old male preparticipation evaluation

Pediatrics 07: 2-hour-old male newborn with respiratory distress

Pediatrics 08: 6-day-old female with jaundice

Pediatrics 09: 2-week-old female with lethargy

Pediatrics 10: 6-month-old female infant with a fever

Pediatrics 11: 4-year-old male with fever and adenopathy

Pediatrics 12: 10-month-old female with a cough

Pediatrics 13: 6-year-old female with chronic cough

Pediatrics 14: 18-month-old female with congestion

Pediatrics 15: Two siblings: 4-year-old male and 8-week-old male with vomiting

Pediatrics 16: 7-year-old female with abdominal pain and vomiting

Pediatrics 17: 4-year-old female refusing to walk

Pediatrics 18: 2-week-old male with poor feeding

Pediatrics 19: 16-month-old male with first seizure

Pediatrics 20: 7-year-old male with a headache

Pediatrics 21: 6-year-old male with bruising

Pediatrics 22: 16-year-old female with abdominal pain

Pediatrics 23: 15-year-old female with lethargy and fever

Pediatrics 24: 2-year-old female with altered mental status

Pediatrics 25: 2-month-old male with apnea

Pediatrics 26: 9-week-old male not gaining weight

Pediatrics 27: 8-year-old female with abdominal pain

Pediatrics 28: 18-month-old male with developmental delay

Pediatrics 29: Male infant with hypotonia

Pediatrics 30: 2-year-old male with sickle cell disease

Pediatrics 31: 5-year-old female with puffy eyes

Pediatrics 32: A Day in Pediatric Dermatology Clinic

From Our Cases


Educator Resources

In addition to the 32 cases included with this course, the Aquifer Educators Consortium has developed Educator Resources to accompany this course, available to all subscribers. Resources include valuable teaching and learning tools to increase student engagement and maximize efficiency for faculty.

To access these tools, sign in to your Aquifer account and visit the Educator Resources section.

Aquifer Pediatrics Educator Guide
New Educator Guide Available

Course Overview – Integration Strategies – Educator Resources – Learning Objectives

The Educator Guide—available to all subscribers—provides a quick reference guide for all cases, resources, and features included with Aquifer Pediatrics. The Educator Guide is ideal for educators who are getting started using Aquifer, or experienced users who want to be sure they are taking advantage of Aquifer’s extensive resources and tools. Learn more…

Active Learning Modules

These team-based learning exercises have been thoughtfully prepared with the aim of minimizing teacher preparation time and maximizing learner achievement. Learn more about the Pediatrics Active Learning Modules.

  • Fever Module
  • Immunizations Module
  • Patient Safety Module
  • Child Development Module
Case Analysis Tool

The toolkit contains a structured worksheet completed by the students as they work through the virtual patient case, designed to enhance the development of clinical reasoning skills. Each step mirrors the process through which clinicians gather and process information about a patient, leading up to the development of an initial evaluation and treatment plan. Answer keys are included for most cases. Learn more about the Case Analysis Tool.

Questions for Further Consideration

A series of questions available to promote further discussion of some of the important points in each case. These can be used to emphasize areas such as basic science, clinical reasoning, management, public health, and communications. The questions are formatted on an excel sheet to allow for easy sorting by case or topic


User Story Video

Learn how Aquifer Pediatrics can benefit medical students and faculty in your program:

Aquifer Pediatrics Course Board

Aquifer Radiology

Aquifer Radiology
Aquifer Radiology
In collaboration with:
Association of University Radiologists & Alliance of Medical Student Educators in Radiology

The 21 interactive virtual patient cases in Aquifer Radiology deliver on the learning objectives of the Association of University Radiologists (AUR) and the Alliance of Medical Student Educators in Radiology (AMSER) medical student curriculum.

Overview

Aquifer Radiology’s virtual patient cases are realistic case scenarios that demonstrate best-practices—helping students develop clinical reasoning skills that bridge the gap from content to practice. In an era of the increasing importance of evidence-based decision making and reliance on imaging, an understanding of the principles and applications of radiology is vital for today’s healthcare professionals. The National Board of Medical Examiners has recognized this by increasing the imaging component of all United States Medical Licensing Examination exams.

Coming July 1: Embedded Curricular Threads

New embedded threads will provide consistent teaching on interdisciplinary Clinical Excellence topics throughout Aquifer’s core courses. Radiology cases will include new content woven into our existing cases to highlight key principles in palliative care, trauma-informed care, social determinants of health, high value care, diagnostic excellence, and foundations of telemedicine. Learn more…

Course Details

  • Created for educators, by educators, utilizing the American College of Radiology (ACR) Appropriateness criteria
  • Available for institutional subscription or for direct purchase by individual subscribers
  • Access to Aquifer Calibrate: Transformative Assessments for Clinical Learning Mastery, our innovative system for formative assessment, available with your 2023-24 subscription
  • Proven pedagogy that standardizes experiences—overcoming geography, seasonality, and accessibility
  • Evidence-based, peer-reviewed, and continuously updated content
  • Self-assessment questions emphasize key content and enable students to test their knowledge and skills
  • A wealth of source material, tools, and full references in each case
  • Educator resources, including complete flipped classroom PowerPoint workshops for each case—with speaker notes
  • Delivered via the Aqueduct teaching and learning platform, which includes user management options, easy reporting on student progress and course usage, plus tools for creating custom courses to match a specific curriculum

Aquifer Radiology cases teach a patient-centered approach to imaging, foster self-directed and independent study, and build clinical problem-solving skills. The realistic case scenarios teach evidence-based decision making and include excellent interactive radiology resources.

These cases can be used as a stand-alone radiology course during a radiology clerkship or elective, or be incorporated into the appropriate clinical clerkships as part of a custom course created in Aqueduct.  For example, the women’s imaging cases can be incorporated into an Ob-Gyn clerkship, or the neuroimaging cases could be used during a Neurology clerkship, thus teaching imaging at an applicable time.

Aquifer Calibrate, an innovative system for formative assessments, is undergoing pilot testing. The new assessments will combine the concepts of test-enhanced learning and distributed practice to facilitate efficient study planning and self-directed learning for students, and identify at-risk students and curricular gaps for faculty. Calibrate will be included with your Aquifer Radiology subscription for the 2023-24 subscription year.

Our legacy 100-question summative multiple-choice exam will be available through June 2023.

Radiology 01: 23-year-old male: Chest – Infection

Radiology 02: 51-year-old male: Chest – Masses

Radiology 03: 65-year-old male: Chest – Trauma

Radiology 04: 65-year-old female: Chest – Vascular and COPD

Radiology 05: 25-year-old male: GI – Colon and small bowel

Radiology 06: 42-year-old female: GI – Hepatobiliary and pancreas

Radiology 07: 40-year-old female: Renal/GU

Radiology 08: 18-year-old female & 19-year-old male: GI – Trauma

Radiology 09: 34-year-old male: Neuro – Trauma

Radiology 10: 40-year-old male: Neuro – Vascular and HIV

Radiology 11: 8-week old male – Pediatrics A

Radiology 12: 2-month old female – Pediatrics B

Radiology 13: 59-year-old female: MSK – Arthritis, osteomyelitis

Radiology 14: 28-year-old female: Women’s imaging – Pregnancy and infertility

Radiology 15: 43-year-old female: Women’s imaging – Malignancy and screening

Radiology 16: 24-year-old male: MSK – Trauma

Radiology 17: 65-year-old male: Cardiac and Cardiovascular

Radiology 18: Professionalism in Radiology

Radiology 19: 53-year-old female: Oncology

Radiology 20: Interventional Radiology – Vascular

Radiology 21: Interventional Radiology – Nonvascular

From Our Cases

Flipped Classroom Workshops

Complete Aquifer Radiology Flipped Classroom Workshops are available for 18 cases—ready to use in your classroom. Each workshop, designed to be completed in a 60-90 minute session, includes a powerpoint with images and annotations, speaker notes, and a facilitator guide.

User Stories

Learn how Aquifer Radiology can benefit medical students, residents, and faculty in your program:

On-Demand Webinar

Best Practices for Using Aquifer Radiology Across the Curriculum
5 ways to use Aquifer Radiology

Blog: 5 Ways to Use Aquifer Radiology

Aquifer Radiology Course Board