Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the diversity of pediatric patients?
A. Geisinger Medical Center and the Janet Weis Children's Hospital are truly unique facilities. Located in rural Pennsylvania, it serves as the only major tertiary referral site for a large geographic area in central and northeast portion of the state. This large patient referral base provides for a diverse and interesting patient population with a variety of complex and unique diagnostic and management challenges.  Included in our diverse population is a large local Amish community which affords residents an opportunity to treat a variety of metabolic, cardiac and infectious diseases which are unique among these children. Also, being located in a small town, our program is committed to serving the children of the local Danville community. Our residents are given the opportunity to experience the practice of medicine within a real community in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. This includes interaction with local schools, athletic programs, and child intervention agencies. 

Q. What are fellowship opportunities?
A. The pediatric teaching program at Geisinger Medical Center is designed with resident education as their sole emphasis. Since pediatricians practicing in rural environments need to have a mastery of critical care procedure skills, the program feels it is imperative that residents have every opportunity to become competent in these skills before graduation. The presence of fellows in the ICU setting limits resident experience by deferring procedural activities and decision making to fellows.  In order to maximize resident experience no pediatric fellowship programs are offered. Residents manage their patients first hand with direct attending faculty supervision. All procedures are performed by the resident staff. The lack of fellowship opportunities at our institution does not preclude our residents from seeking further education opportunities in various pediatric subspecialty fellowship programs. Approximately 40% of our resident graduates choose to do fellowships at various institutions across the country. We are fortunate that our residency is respected among academic institutions, and that in our history we have never had a graduate unable to obtain a fellowship position if they wished.

Q. How does the call schedule work?
A. R1 Residents on inpatient rotations (NICU and inpatient wards) take call on average once every five evenings.  R1 Residents on all other rotations take call in the ED on average once every five to seven evenings.  R2 and R3 Residents participate in a common call schedule and take call on average once every six to eight evenings.

Q. Are away electives needed to fulfill program requirements?
A. No, all training requirements can be fulfilled on our medical campus and surrounding community. Residents are allowed one away rotation in their PL2 and PL3 year. This away rotation must be an educational experience that is not offered in our institution.  The program also permits additional away time to fulfill community medicine or emergency medicine electives if the resident requests.