Building Clinical Reasoning Skills
Aquifer is committed to preparing students for clinical practice. Our rich case content focuses on teaching evidence-based clinical decision-making and developing the problem-solving skills vital to providing quality patient care.
Aquifer Cases Give You:
Access to Patients & Key Conditions
Gain experience missed in clinic due to lack of patients, disruptions, or seasonality.
A Safe Space to Practice Clinical Decisions
Realistic, interactive patient scenarios allow students to deepen their understanding, check their knowledge, and develop diagnoses before they are at the bedside.
Deep Evidence-Based Content
Comprehensive coverage of core clinical concepts, written and peer-reviewed by expert medical educators.
Expansive Content on Core Topics
Aquifer’s 250+ cases include content in core disciplines:
Family Medicine – Geriatrics – Internal Medicine – Neurology – Pediatrics – Radiology
and Clinical Excellence Case Sets on key topics:
Palliative Care – Trauma-Informed Care – High Value Care – Diagnostic Excellence – Telemedicine – Social Determinants of Health
Plus, a growing library of Integrated Illness Scripts that link basic science causal mechanisms to key clinical knowledge to explain the “why” behind core conditions.
Student Stories: How Aquifer Helps
Our Proven Pedagogy
- Complete Encounters with Patients & Preceptors
- Realistic Clinical Experiences
- Written by Experts & Aligned with National Curricula
- Modeling Communication
- Embedded Self-Assessment Throughout Cases
- Just-In-Time Coverage of Clinical Excellence Topics
- Integration of Basic Science and Clinical Education
- Formative Assessment Tools build Self-Directed Learners
Complete Encounters with Patients & Preceptors
Aquifer cases walk students through all of the steps of a patient encounter.
Realistic Clinical Experiences
Cases include results of diagnostic testing, videos, audio, and images to provide a deep and realistic patient scenario.
Written by Experts & Aligned with National Curricula
Aquifer cases are written and maintained by the Aquifer Consortium of leading health professions educators, and developed to provide comprehensive coverage of national organization curriculum.
Modeling Communication
Each case includes detailed dialog that models effective communication with both patients and preceptors—an ideal way to prepare students for clinic.
Embedded Self-Assessment Throughout Cases
Cases include built-in questions for self-assessment with detailed answer explanations, opportunities for students to practice writing summary statements, and additional self-assessment questions at the end to reinforce key concepts and extend learning beyond a single scenario.
Just-In-Time Coverage of Clinical Excellence Topics
Brief, just-in-time coverage of Palliative Care, Trauma-Informed Care, Social Determinants of Health, High Value Care, Diagnostic Excellence and Telemedicine is included in select cases - a great way to ensure consistent coverage of these often orphaned topics without adding faculty time.
Integration of Basic Science and Clinical Education
40+ Integrated Illness Scripts are available on core conditions to promote cognitive integration and provide a framework for learners to link basic science and clinical knowledge.
Formative Assessment Tools build Self-Directed Learners
Calibrate formative assessments for Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Radiology drive self-directed learning in clinical students, helping them build higher order thinking and problem solving skills, and provides a common tool and objective data to align students and faculty and leverage mid-clerkship feedback.
