The aim of the Penn State Dermatology Residency Program is to produce excellent clinical dermatologists. This is accomplished in a milieu that encourages personal growth, scientific discovery, and enrichment of patient care abilities. Basic dermatologic surgery skills with expertise to manage complications are taught. Critical analytical skills for the acquisition of new medical information are developed.  Dermatopathology interpretive knowledge will be acquired. A comprehensive fund of knowledge should be acquired for the diagnosis and management of common and rare clinical  dermatologic problems and also for passing the certifying examination.

To accomplish this, a faculty dedicated to patient care, teaching, research, and intellectual curiosity will provide the infrastructure for the resident learning experience. The resident will be expected to be self-motivated, responsive to guidance, invest the time and effort necessary for self learning, and be dedicated to patient care.

• First Year Resident Objectives
• Second Year Resident Objectives
• Third Year Resident Objectives

First Year Resident

• Outpatient clinic -  9 patients per clinic (1 every 20 minutes). Eight ½ day clinics per week, including ½ day of Surgery Clinic every week.
• In-patient consult service history, physical, management- 4 months.
• Prepare summary of inpatient consult cases for the month to present to faculty - 4 months.
• Dermatology rounds daily if not at satellite clinic.
• Attend all dermatology teaching conferences.
• Rotate on call for week nights and weekends with other residents.
• Attend Contact Dermatitis: State-of-the-Art Issues.
• Prepare conference room for Grand Rounds.
• Give one basic science lecture.
• Cover for fellow 1st years on vacation, elective, etc.
• Educating medical students and rotating residents in clinic.
• Arrange and conduct 2 monthly ethics article reviews.
• Attend Bayer Training. (4-6 months into training)
• 6-7 weeks on call.

Second Year Resident

• Outpatient clinic - 12-13 patients per clinic (1 every 15 minutes).  Eight ½  day clinics per week, including ½ day of Surgery Clinic every week.
• Dermatology rounds daily if not at satellite clinic.  Coordinate and supervise consults with medical students and rotating residents.
• Inpatient consults - cover 1st year residents are away.
• Attend all dermatology teaching conferences.
• Research project formulated and proposal written by end of second year or case report in publishable form.
• Two months of Dermatopathology elective time.
• One month of Mohs surgery elective time.
• Rotate on call for week nights and weekends with other residents.
• Clerkship orientation for medical students and rotating residents.
• Attend American Academy of Dermatology Meeting (submit abstract for presentation at Gross & Microscopic Symposium) or attend a sub-specialty meeting.
• Attend Contact Dermatitis: State-of-the-Art Issues.
• Organize Grand Rounds.
• Take pictures of Grand Rounds patients. File individual case histories and corresponding patient pictures in Mirror.
• Give one basic science lecture.
• Camp Horizon - a camp for children with skin diseases - 1 week elective.
• Cover for fellow 2nd years on vacation, elective, etc.
• Educating medical students and rotating residents in clinic.
• Arrange and conduct 2 monthly ethics article reviews.
• 6 weeks on call.

Third Year Resident

• Outpatient clinic - 12-13 patients per clinic. (1 every 15 minutes) Eight ½ day clinics per week, including ½ day of  Surgery Clinic every week.
• Share Chief Resident responsibilities.
• Lead inpatient consult rounds 2 days per week and cover consults when 1st and 2nd year residents are away.
• Arrange on-call and vacation schedule of residents.
• Attend all dermatology teaching conferences.
• Conduct Patient Conference.
• Give PowerPoint Conference in rotation with staff.
• Give dermatology lectures to other departments and high school students as requested.
• Four week educational elective.  The elective is taken as a 4 week block and done at another institution if desired.  The elective is permitted provided the resident scores above 50th percentile on practice boards during their 2nd year of dermatology training.  If the resident scores below the 50th percentile, he/she is permitted a 2 week elective with residency director approval.  The other two weeks will be for boards self-study along with one full day in clinic each week.
• Milton Hershey School Pediatric Clinic - 3 afternoons per year per resident (September through June).
• Rotate on call for week nights and weekends with other residents.
• Educating medical students and rotating residents in clinic.
• Attend American Academy of Dermatology (submit abstract for Gross & Microscopic Symposium) or a sub-specialty meeting. Attend Pennsylvania Academy of Dermatology Meeting (one resident presents at Resident's Forum).
• Attend Contact Dermatitis: State-of-the-Art Issues.
• Give one basic science lecture.
• Maintain orderly dermatology library.
• Cover for fellow 3rd years on vacation, elective, etc.
• Teach medical students during their clerkship the basics of  dermatology through a series of lectures.
• Edit annual newsletter.
• 5 weeks on call.

Conferences - Daily
Medical Clinics - 3 - 3 ½ days per week
Surgery Clinics - ½ -1 day per week
Academic Time - 1 day per week

Clinics

• Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Continuity Clinic
• Nyes Road Continuity Clinic

Clinic Guidelines

1. Continuity of care is a core value; yearly resident schedules will be created in a manner that allows the resident to maintain continuity of care with his/her patients.
2. Residents will not travel to more than one clinic site per day.
3. Residents will utilize time just prior to or at the very end of their scheduled clinics to add on emergency and acute return patients
4. Residents who have completed seeing their scheduled patients will assist those who may be running behind - Teamwork helps everyone!

"The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head. Often the best part of your work will have nothing to do with powders or potions..."
- Sir William Osler

New Resident Orientation

Day 1 - a.m.

Meet and observe the staff in the academic office, finance office, scheduling office, clinic front desk, clinical research office and meet with the clinic manager.

Day 1 - p.m.

• Meet and shadow the MA's.
• After clinic (5 p.m.), attend pig's feet session with Dr. Joslyn Kirby in Dermatology Conference Room, 4200B.

Day 2 - a.m. and p.m.:

• Shadow an attending in the a.m.
• Shadow an attending in Open Access clinic in the p.m.

Weeks 2, 3 and 4:

• Shadow an attending for half-a-day while on academic time.

Dermatology Resident Leadership Curriculum

Objective: Develop lifelong leadership skills to enrich your dermatology practice in any setting.

Rationale: Current residency curricula have carefully focused on creating knowledgeable and skilled physicians but generally have not emphasized training their residents in leadership skills. We propose that leadership skills are important and can be taught and cultivated, consequently leadership training should become part of dermatology residency education.

Topics Covered by Diverse Learning Experiences:

• Leadership
• Team Building
• Enabling and Embracing Change
• Quality
• Conflict Management
• Effective Communication
• How to Run Productive Meetings
• Mentoring
• Cultural Competency

Materials: Books, videos, interactive seminars, case studies, and dialogs.

Metric: Annual resident evaluations. Academic and private practice leaders.

First Year Residents:

• The Ice Cream Maker, Subir Chowdhury, Doubleday, 2005
• Fish, Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul and John Christensen, Hyperion, 2000
• Bayer Institute Clinician – Patient Communication Seminar
• Fish video
• Dialogue – How Good Leadership Makes Good Practice
• Case Study – Evening clinic
• Clinic meetings

Second Year Residents:

• Who Moved My Cheese, Spencer Johnson, M.D., and Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D., G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1998
• Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni, Jossey-Bass, 2002
• Pickle video
• Dialogue – How Change Can Make Good Practice
• Case Study – Open Access Clinic
• Diversity Seminar
• Clinic meetings

Third Year Residents:

• The One Minute Manager, Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D., and Spencer Johnson, M.D., William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1981, 1982
• Our Iceberg Is Melting, John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber, St. Martin's Press, New York, NY, 2005
• Dialogue – How Good Teams Make Good Practice
• Case Study – Employee poor performance
• Clinic meetings
• Chief Resident Leadership

SWOT Analysis

We do an annual SWOT analysis to help improve the residency curriculum.  After six months we review the action plans to see if we implemented the ideas.  The acronym for SWOT is:

S = Strengths

W = Weaknesses

O = Opportunities

T = Threats

Dermatology Resident Handbook