Broad Exposure And Extensive One-On-One Instruction
This program has the flexibility to prepare resident physicians for careers in the practice of general internal medicine and its subspecialties, as well as in academic medicine and clinical investigation. The program will provide resident physicians with carefully supervised clinical experience, opportunities to develop teaching skills, and experience in clinical investigation. The relatively small size of the program and the teaching commitment of our full-time faculty lead to extensive resident-faculty interaction during the period of training. We believe this is a major strength of our program. The of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and York Hospital experiences substantially broaden the patient base, clinical exposure, and faculty mentors available to our resident physicians.

Residents will receive ongoing 360° evaluations and appropriate feedback throughout their residency training.  Faculty are strongly encouraged to provide constructive feedback to resident physicians during and at the end of each rotation. The program directors meet with each resident individually at least twice yearly to review evaluations and progress. The program director and associate director meet with all residents as a group at least monthly to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern. We believe these actions create an atmosphere of mutual trust and concern as well as encourage free exchange of information and ideas about the program and the department.

A Program With Large National Appeal
Over the years, our first-year resident physicians have come from a cross-section of the country's finest medical schools. These include, but are most certainly not limited to: Albany Medical College, Boston University, Brown University, Case Western Reserve, Drexel University College of Medicine, Duke University, East Carolina School of Medicine, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Hahnemann University, Harvard Medical School, Jefferson Medical College, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Medical College of Ohio, Medical College of Pennsylvania, Medical College of Virginia, Medical University of South Carolina, New Jersey Medical School, New York University, Northwestern University, Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine, State University of New York (Buffalo, Brooklyn, Syracuse), Temple University, University of California (San Diego), University of Chicago, University of Kansas, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Miami, University of North Carolina, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of Texas (Houston, San Antonio, Southwestern), University of Texas Health Science Center, University of Utah, and the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Penn State Internal Medicine Residency Alumni
Upon completing their training in Hershey, resident physicians have entered subspecialty fellowship training, general internal medicine practice, the U.S. Public Health Service or military service, as well as other professional endeavors. Several now hold positions in academic medicine. We believe our residents are highly competitive for the best fellowship programs as demonstrated by our current graduates.

Systems That Work
The medicine inpatient service at Penn State Hershey Medical Center is divided into three general medicine, one hematology team, one oncology team, one gastroenterology and one hepatology service, one critical care team and two cardiology teams. We have recently introduced non-resident services in our general medicine, cardiology and hematology/oncology rotations at the Hershey Medical Center to balance the teaching experience and patient care responsibilities.  There are approximately 6,000 combined admissions per year to general medicine, cardiology, and critical care, and 420 to neurology. Resident physicians assume responsibility for patient care under the direct supervision of the team teaching attending physician. The admission data base (history, physical examination, and laboratory data) and orders must be entered promptly by the admitting resident physician. The recent incorporation of our Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) has improved the efficiency and accuracy of this process.  Daily progress notes and orders should reflect all procedures performed, decisions made, and pertinent changes in or additions to the data base and clinical condition of the patient. Generally, only residents write orders for patients under their care. This encourages appropriate communication between attending physicians, consulting physicians, and resident physicians, and clearly establishes the resident physician as the final common pathway for implementing decisions.

The medicine outpatient department accommodates the office practice of our faculty and resident physicians. There are approximately 83,000 visits per year (12,000 new patients) of which approximately 3,000 visits per year are to resident physicians. Each categorical resident physician spends at least one-half day per week in his/her outpatient practice, and is supervised by a member of the general internal medicine division. Block ambulatory months are an integral part of the categorical PGY 1 and PGY 3 curriculum and available to preliminary residents as electives. Faculty supervisors and resident physicians are paired together in the same outpatient session as much as possible during each year to maximize continuity of care and supervision.

Categorical internal medicine resident physicians are expected to develop a representative general internal medicine practice, to follow their patients over time, and to communicate efficiently and effectively with patients and referring physicians. They also have the opportunity and supervision to become proficient in multiple outpatient procedures including skin biopsy, EKG interpretation, and pulmonary function tests. Resident physicians also see representative outpatients during subspecialty rotations. Those resident physicians interested in primary care internal medicine may use elective time in the second and third years to focus and refine their primary care skills and fund of information.