Privacy Policy

1. About this policy

This policy explains how Sharpen ("we", "us") handles personal information when you use the Sharpen platform. It is written to meet our obligations under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy legislation.

Where you access Sharpen through an institution, that institution decides who may use the Service and what happens to the results. Your institution may also have its own privacy policy that applies alongside this one.

2. What we collect

We collect the following categories of personal information.

• Account information — first and last name, email address, optional phone number, and the password credential held by our authentication provider.
• Organisation and team membership — the institution you belong to, the teams you are assigned to, and your role within them.
• Session content — audio recordings of the voice conversations you hold with simulated patients, and the transcripts generated from them.
• Evaluation results — scores, per-criterion assessments, written feedback, and the quoted excerpts of your session used as supporting evidence.
• Usage and activity information — sessions started and completed, session duration, and cases opened.
• Files you upload — documents attached to cases or to an organisation library, such as rubrics and reference material.
• Contact form submissions — the name, email, and message you send us through the website.
• Technical information — IP address, browser and device information, and server logs generated when you use the Service.

We do not ask for and do not want real patient information. Simulated patients are fictional. Please do not enter information about any real person into a session or any other field.

3. How we use personal information

We use personal information to:

• create and administer your account and authenticate you
• deliver simulated patient sessions and record them so they can be assessed
• generate evaluations, scores, and feedback from your sessions
• make your results available to you and to the educators and administrators at your institution
• provide support, respond to enquiries, and send service messages such as password resets and invitations
• monitor, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the Service
• meet legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations

We do not sell personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

4. Voice recordings and transcripts

Sessions are conducted by voice and are recorded. The recording and its transcript are stored, associated with your account, and used to generate your evaluation. They can be reviewed by you and, where applicable, by educators and administrators at your institution and by our platform administrators.

Recordings are processed by our voice provider in order to run the conversation. If you do not want a session recorded, do not start it.

5. Automated evaluation

Your session is assessed using a large language model, which reads the transcript and the audio against the rubric attached to the case and produces scores, written feedback, and quoted evidence.

These outputs can be inaccurate or incomplete, and are intended to support human assessment rather than replace it. If you believe an evaluation is wrong, raise it with your educator or contact us at hello@sharpenedu.com.

6. Disclosure to your institution

This is the most significant disclosure we make, so we want it stated plainly: if your account is provided by an institution, the educators and administrators it designates can see your sessions, recordings, transcripts, evaluation results, and activity.

What a given person can see depends on their role. Organisation administrators can generally see members of their organisation; moderators are limited to the teams they run. Sharpen platform administrators can access data across organisations for support, security, and maintenance.

7. Service providers

We rely on third-party service providers to operate the Service. Each receives only the information needed for its function, and is bound by contract to protect it and to use it only on our instructions.

These providers fall into the following categories:

• Hosting and infrastructure — running the application and delivering it to your browser.
• Database and authentication — storing account records and verifying who you are.
• File and media storage — holding uploaded documents and session recordings.
• Voice and AI services — conducting the simulated patient conversation and generating evaluations from your session.
• Email delivery — sending password resets, invitations, and replies to enquiries.
• Security services — protecting our forms and infrastructure from automated abuse.

Institutions evaluating Sharpen can request a current list of our service providers, and details of the agreements we hold with them, at hello@sharpenedu.com.

8. Where information is stored and processed

Uploaded files and session media are stored in Canada. Some providers process information outside Canada, including in the United States. Where that happens, the information may be subject to the laws of that country, including lawful access by its authorities.

If your institution requires information to remain in Canada, contact us before deployment so we can confirm what is possible.

9. How long we keep it

We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law or by our agreement with your institution.

Session recordings, transcripts, and evaluations are retained while your account is active so that you and your educators can review them. When an account is closed, or an institutional agreement ends, we delete or de-identify the associated information within a reasonable period, unless we are required to retain it. You can ask us about retention, or request deletion, at hello@sharpenedu.com.

10. Security

We protect personal information with technical and organisational measures appropriate to its sensitivity, including encrypted connections, role-based access controls that limit what each user can see, and restricted administrative access.

No system is completely secure. If we become aware of a breach that creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as required by law, and will notify your institution.

11. Your rights

Subject to legal limits, you may:

• ask what personal information we hold about you and request access to it
• ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete
• withdraw consent, understanding that this may mean you can no longer use the Service
• ask us to delete information, where we are not required to retain it
• complain to us, and to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Send requests to hello@sharpenedu.com. We will respond within 30 days, or tell you if we need longer. Where information is held on behalf of your institution, we may need to direct your request to them.

12. Cookies

We use cookies that are necessary for the Service to function, including keeping you signed in and remembering the organisation you are viewing. We do not use cookies for advertising.

13. Health information

Sharpen is designed for simulated encounters and is not intended to hold personal health information about real people. If your institution intends to use Sharpen in a setting where health privacy legislation applies, contact us before deployment so the appropriate agreements can be put in place.

14. Children

The Service is intended for learners in post-secondary and professional healthcare education and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe we have, contact us and we will delete it.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. When we make a material change we will update the date at the top of this page and take reasonable steps to notify you.

16. Contact us

For privacy questions, requests, or complaints, contact us at hello@sharpenedu.com. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca.