Cardiology

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine’s four-week cardiology rotation in Danville, Pa., will provide you with a broad clinical experience at the bedside in the cardiac care unit and on the general medical floors. You’ll be placed on patient care teams and interact with attending cardiologists, cardiology fellows and residents to observe and learn the core skills involved in evaluating a patient presenting with cardiac disease.

Team interaction provides the basis for medical student learning, including the importance of pertinent history and physical examination findings, ordering laboratory studies and diagnostic testing, and interpreting and applying the results of cardiac diagnostic testing. We also present core clinical lectures in areas such as managing patients with acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, valvular heart disease and arrhythmias. Emphasis is placed on learning to read EKGs under the guidance of staff cardiologists and fellows. The educational experience is further augmented by daily cardiology lectures which are organized by cardiology faculty for cardiology fellows. Weekly active case-based conferences, journal clubs and morbidity & mortality (M&M) conferences enhance your educational experience. 

The medical student clinical campus coordinator will provide directions for reporting if your application is accepted for the cardiology rotation. They’ll also give you more information at your first-day orientation.

While your individual schedule for actual training days and hours may vary, and will be set by the clerkship coordinator, a typical workday starts at 7:30 a.m. and runs through 5 p.m. There may be instances when the workday exceeds these times depending on clinical demands. You’re expected to work during nights or during weekends. The basic days and hours in the rotation calendar are as follows:

• Monday: Basic core conference scheduled with medical education office and provided via videoconference. Assigned reading and self-study for the remainder of the workday.
• Tuesday – Friday: 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., cardiology lecture; 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., review and read EKGs with attending and residents; other clinical assignments, assigned reading and self-study for the remainder of the workday.

Geisinger offers a Cardiovascular Fellowship and a Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship.

Goals and objectives

You’ll have exposure to the essentials of cardiology primarily in inpatient cardiology setting. Medical student learning on the rotation is primarily accomplished through direct interaction and observation of the cardiology fellows and attendings in the clinical setting, supplemented by didactic sessions and assigned readings. 

• Observe and learn the scope of knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to assess and provide care to cardiology patients by rounding with the inpatient service team.
• Observe and learn how various cardiac labs contribute to the assessment and management of the spectrum of disease processes seen in cardiology patients. These include the echocardiography laboratory and the cardiac catheterization laboratory. 
• Observe how the clinical decision unit (CDU) functions in the Emergency Department.
• Assess and assimilate observations made on the rotation through direct discussion with the cardiology fellow.