Education at Penn State Hershey Emergency Medicine

The Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has the distinction of being both one of the oldest and one of the newest residencies in Emergency Medicine.  It was one of the first programs back in the late ‘70’s when this was an 18,000 volume ED in the new and growing Hershey Medical Center.  It was part of a joint program from the mid-90’s until 2004.  And in 2004, the first class of interns was recruited for the newly reconstituted independent program in Emergency Medicine.

A lot has changed over those 25-plus years.  We built a new ED in 1994 which was expanded by 7,400 square feet in 2009 to accommodate our burgeoning population of over 54,000 cases per year.  This expansion was accompanied by innovative process improvements that are changing the way emergency care is delivered.  The medical center has recently built a new Heart and Vascular Institute and Cancer Center, and ground-breaking for the new Children’s Hospital is expected shortly.  All of this will continue to expand the opportunities available for our emergency medicine residents to be part of cutting-edge clinical care.  Our affiliation with the emergency department of the Harrisburg Hospital-Pinnacle Health Care (located only 12 miles from the Hershey Medical Center) allows our residents to also train in an inner-city community hospital.

Our residents benefit from an active EMS (ground and air) program, fellowships in clinical Toxicology, Critical Critical Care/Resuscitation and EMS, and the ability to learn about event medicine by providing medical support for the Nittany Lions home football games.

A robust education program accompanies the clinical training.  Weekly didactic lectures are supplemented by an annual live animal major procedures lab, multiple skills labs, sessions in the hospital’s simulation lab (one of the first and most well-known in the country and accredited by both the ASA and ACS), and our own recently-acquired mobile simulation lab in order to prepare residents to provide safe and effective independent medical care upon graduation.

Hershey, PA is a wonderful family-oriented town, with great schools, beautiful scenery, and many recreational and tourist opportunities.  It really is the “sweetest place on Earth!”