Emergency medicine (Northeast)

Located at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., the emergency clerkship is an immersive experience for fourth-year medical students. 

Whether the experience is required or elective, the clerkship provides one-on-one teaching by experienced community emergency medicine attendings to students from various institutions. You’ll work clinically in an accredited Level 1 trauma center, a comprehensive stroke center and a chest pain center. You’ll participate in care from triage through admission or discharge. 

You’ll have approximately 18 total experiences during your elective month (only four-week rotations are offered for students on elective experiences), which include clinical shifts, procedure labs and didactic sessions. Clinical shifts are generally nine hours long. Abundant resources will optimize learning your outside of the hospital.

In addition to clinical duties, you’ll participate in weekly didactic experiences directed by our teaching faculty, including simulation, procedure labs and optional Emergency Medical Services experiences.

Our Emergency Department (ED) is the busiest in the Geisinger system and has more than 40 beds, including a three-bed resuscitation bay. You’ll have the opportunity to care for our very high-acuity patient population and participate in or perform all manner of critical emergency procedures. Radiology services, including ultrasound and MRI, are available 24/7.

Our faculty are eager to teach and mentor medical students like you. If desired, we can write you an Emergency Medicine Residency standardized letter of evaluation (SLOE) at the conclusion of your rotation.

Goals and objectives

A comprehensive resource guide will be provided upon starting the rotation. It includes logistical details, goals and objectives, and a detailed incorporation of emergency medicine student milestones, entrustable professional activities and core competencies. Additionally, some details are provided below.

• Develop efficiency and focus on the assessment of common emergency medicine chief complaints, including but not limited to abdominal pain, altered mental status, chest pain, headache, nausea/vomiting, overdose, shock, shortness of breath and trauma.  
• Formulate basic differential diagnoses, including the most serious or life-threatening conditions, the most common etiologies and the most likely diagnosis for common chief complaints and presentations in the ED.    
• Become proficient in the presentation of the ED history and physical examination, including recognizing the important elements of the case and developing conciseness.
• Participate in the care of critically ill and unstable patients, both medical and traumatic, including airway management, arrhythmia recognition and management, central line placement, appropriate vasopressor selection and lumbar punctures.
• Improve confidence in formulating basic treatment plans, including lab and imaging workup, medications and ultimate dispositions for ED patients.    
• Provide compassionate care of patients.
• Practice interpersonal and communication skills with patients, consultants and primary care physicians.
• Demonstrate proficiency in writing emergency medicine notes.
• Exhibit professionalism in all aspects of the rotation, including timeliness, honesty, integrity, accountability and cultural sensitivity
• Be proactive in learning, with independent reading of material pertinent not only to patients in the ED, but also for common emergency medicine chief complaints (e.g., chest pain, dyspnea, abdominal pain, fever, headache).