Aquifer 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.
In collaboration with the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, 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.
Request Sample Case
Now Available: Embedded Curricular Threads
New embedded threads provide consistent teaching on interdisciplinary Clinical Excellence topics throughout Aquifer’s core courses. Select Internal Medicine cases 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.
-
Key Features
- 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 institutional 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
-
Course Content
Realistic case scenarios demonstrating 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 successful practitioners.
-
Curriculum Integration
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 vital clinical experiences.
-
Clinical Decision-Making Exam
Aquifer Calibrate, an innovative system for formative assessments, is available for Aquifer Internal Medicine. Calibratecombines the concepts of test-enhanced learning and distributed practice to facilitate efficient study planning and self-directed learning for students, and identifies at-risk students and curricular gaps for faculty. Calibrate is available with your 2024-25 institutional subscription to Internal Medicine.
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 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.
-
Self-Assessment Questions
After completing each case, students will have the option 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 are available to internal medicine subscribers.
-
Case List
Internal Medicine 01: 49-year-old with chest pain
Internal Medicine 02: 60-year-old with chest pain
Internal Medicine 03: Four patients with syncope
Internal Medicine 04: 67-year-old with shortness of breath and lower-leg swelling
Internal Medicine 05: 55-year-old with fatigue
Internal Medicine 06: 45-year-old with hypertension
Internal Medicine 07: 28-year-old with light-headedness
Internal Medicine 08: 55-year-old with type 2 diabetes
Internal Medicine 09: 55-year-old with upper abdominal pain and vomiting
Internal Medicine 10: 48-year-old with diarrhea and dizziness
Internal Medicine 11: 45-year-old with abnormal liver chemistries
Internal Medicine 12: 55-year-old with lower abdominal pain
Internal Medicine 13: 65-year-old for annual wellness visit
Internal Medicine 14: 18-year-old for pre-college physical
Internal Medicine 15: 50-year-old with cough and nasal congestion
Internal Medicine 16: 45-year-old who struggles with excess weight
Internal Medicine 17: 28-year-old with a pigmented lesion
Internal Medicine 18: 75-year-old with memory problems
Internal Medicine 19: 42-year-old with anemia
Internal Medicine 20: 48-year-old with HIV
Internal Medicine 21: 78-year-old with fever, lethargy, and anorexia
Internal Medicine 22: 71-year-old with cough and fatigue
Internal Medicine 23: 54-year-old with chronic kidney disease
Internal Medicine 24: 52-year-old with headache, vomiting, and fever
Internal Medicine 25: 75-year-old with altered mental status
Internal Medicine 26: 58-year-old with altered mental status and experiencing homelessness
Internal Medicine 27: 65-year-old with hypercalcemia
Internal Medicine 28: 70-year-old with shortness of breath and cough
Internal Medicine 29: 55-year-old with fever and chills
Internal Medicine 30: 55-year-old with leg pain
Internal Medicine 31: 40-year-old with knee pain
Internal Medicine 32: 39-year-old with joint pain
Internal Medicine 33: 49-year-old with confusion
Internal Medicine 34: 55-year-old with low back pain
Internal Medicine 35: 35-year-old with three weeks of fever
Internal Medicine 36: 49-year-old with ascites
User Story Video
Learn how Aquifer Internal Medicine can benefit medical students and faculty in your program.
Lisa Calvo, MD
University of Nevada, Reno
I like that these cases are real-life scenarios and very applicable to the patients I see in clinic with my mentors. I feel just by doing these cases in a few days, my experience in family medicine has improved by leaps and bounds and my mentors can see a marked improvement and change in me, even down to how I interact with patients and present myself. Thank you so much Aquifer, you're a lifesaver!
Educator Guide Available
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.
Aquifer Internal Medicine Course Board
Kirk Bronander, MD
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Current Role: Editor-in-Chief, Case Author
Former Roles: Associate Editor
Cases Authored: Internal Medicine 02: 60-year-old woman with chest pain
Institution: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine
Institutional Title: Professor
Institutional Role: Curriculum Director
Jenny Wright, MD
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Roles: Associate Editor – Curriculum Lead, Case Author
Former Role: Case Editor
Cases Authored: Internal Medicine 06: 45-year-old man with hypertension; Internal Medicine 10: 48-year-old woman with diarrhea and dizziness (Assistant Author)
Institution: University of Washington
Institutional Role: Associate Professor of Medicine
Kendall Novoa-Takara, MD
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor, Adoption & Use Lead, Case Author
Former Role: Case Editor
Case Authored: Internal Medicine 21: 78-year-old man with fever, lethargy, and anorexia
Institution: University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix
Institutional Title: Clinical Professor
Monica Edwards, MD, MPH, FACP
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor
Former Role: Case Editor
Cases Edited: Internal Medicine 13: 65-year-old woman for annual physical
Institution: Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine
Institutional Title: Associate Professor
Institutional Role: Clerkship Director for the Internal Medicine Clerkship
Danielle Hebert, DNP, MBA, MSN, ANP-BC (she/her)
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor
Institution: Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, UMass Chan Medical School
Institutional Role: Assistant Professor
Institutional Title: Nurse Practitioner
Patricia Kao, MD, MS, MHPE
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor
Institution: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Institutional Role: Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology
Institutional Title: Director, Teaching Physician Pathway Division of Medical Education
John Roberts, MD, MS, MEd
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor
Institution: Duke University School of Medicine
Institutional Role: Associate Professor of Medicine
Institutional Title: Clerkship Director, and Course Director
Ronda Mourad, MD
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor
Former Role: Case Editor, Sciences Clinician Editor
Cases Edited: Internal Medicine 19: 42-year-old female with anemia, Internal Medicine 34: 55-year-old man with low back pain.
Institution: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center
Institutional Title: Associate Professor of Medicine
Institutional Role: Associate Clerkship Director
Meena Singh, MD
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor
Former Role: Case Editor
Cases Edited: Case: Internal Medicine 28: 70-year-old man with shortness of breath and leg swelling
Institution: Medical College of Wisconsin
Institutional Title: Assistant Professor
Institutional Role: Hospitalist, Physician Advisor: Utilization Review
Elisabeth Shell, PhD, MPAS, PA-C
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Institutional Title: Assistant Professor
Institutional Role: Faculty in the Physician Assistant Program
Homan H. Wai, MD
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor
Former Role: Case Editor
Cases Edited: Internal Medicine 32: 39-year-old female with joint pain
Institution: University of Virginia School of Medicine, Inova Campus
Institutional Title: Associate Professor of Medical Education
Institutional Role: Clerkship Director for the Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine Acting Internship Director, Hospitalist Physician, Internship Readiness Course Director
Pahresah Roomiany, MD, MS. FACP
Course Board: Aquifer Internal Medicine
Role: Associate Editor
Institution: Duke University Health
Institutional Title: Associate Medical Director of Education, Hospital Medicine