Source: Nagge et al., American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2025.
The problem Expert Clinics solve
Traditional experiential learning is constrained.
Confidence in high-stakes decision making is a barrier to pharmacists adopting increasingly advanced clinical roles. Traditional experiential training builds that confidence, but it depends on preceptor availability, geographic access and scheduling that many practitioners simply don't have.
Expert Clinics remove those constraints. Learners get the structure of a supervised rotation (assess, present the plan, get feedback) without needing to travel, find an expert preceptor or wait for the right patient to walk through the door.
Preceptor shortages
Expert-supervised clinical experiences are scarce, especially outside major centres
Geography and travel
In-person rotations require physical presence, a barrier for many practitioners
Unpredictable case exposure
Real clinics can't guarantee every learner encounters the full range of cases they need
A controlled, purposeful use of generative AI
Expert Clinics use generative AI to simulate realistic patient and preceptor encounters. The goal isn't to replace expert judgment, but to create the conditions where learners can develop it. The underlying simulation infrastructure is built in partnership with Ametros Learning.
Diverse patient roster
Distinct personalities, histories, and clinical details
Organic dialogue
Patients recognize varied phrasing and respond naturally to learner inquiry
Safeguarded and constrained
AI operates within defined clinical parameters set by the module designer
Expert feedback
Subject matter experts, not the AI, author the feedback learners receive
This is a very controlled application of generative AI with program restraints and safeguards. When used appropriately, this is one of the many ways AI can have a positive impact in education.
Six years of evidence from the field
The Management of Oral Anticoagulation Therapy (MOAT) course, our Anticoagulation Clinic, is the foundation of the model. It blends self-paced online learning with a virtual clinic that simulates a full supervised rotation.
Study 1 · AJPE 2025
Confidence outcomes in the AI-enabled virtual clinic
In a mixed-methods study of 287 participants (96.9% pharmacists), mean confidence rose from 1.92 at baseline to 3.85 after online modules, and then to 4.24 following the virtual Expert Clinic. Roughly 40% of learners gained additional confidence from the virtual clinic alone, on top of the gains from the online content.
Study 2 · JIPE 2025
Value of experiential learning in CPD for pharmacists
This earlier study evaluated the original (in-person) MOAT course. Among 125 pharmacist graduates (71.4% response rate), confidence in providing anticoagulation services rose progressively across baseline, online and experiential components (2.9 to 5.0 to 6.2 on a 7-point scale; all p<0.001), and 90% identified the experiential component as the most important aspect of the course. These findings established the value of supervised experiential learning in anticoagulation CPD and provided the foundation for the virtual Expert Clinic model that followed.
What the evidence supports, and where we're going
Together, these studies establish two things. First, supervised experiential learning meaningfully extends what online learning alone can deliver in anticoagulation CPD (Study 2, in-person model). Second, this experiential component can be delivered effectively in AI-enabled virtual form, with significant progressive confidence gains in the same therapeutic area (Study 1, virtual model). We have not yet directly compared Expert Clinics to in-person rotations. A randomized controlled trial of the Indigenous Health Clinic is currently in development to extend the evidence base.
Awards and recognition
Award for Innovation in Education
Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada
Silver — Best use of Generative AI
QS Reimagine Education Awards (Quacquarelli Symonds)
Non-credit programming award (under 48 hours)
Canadian Association for University Continuing Education (CAUCE)