Internal medicine sub-internship (Central)

Regardless of your career plans, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine’s internal medicine sub-internship experience will provide a personally and academically satisfying experience. Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., is a unique academic medical center offering educational experiences in the combined format of a local community hospital and a tertiary/quaternary care medical facility. Because we serve a large geographic region, we offer clinical exposure to a diverse array of pathophysiologic conditions. On the inpatient units, you’ll be challenged daily with patients on our telemetry and general medical floors. You’ll be exposed to common and rare medical conditions during your rotation. The staff and residents are excellent resources to further your education and they love to teach.  

Our hospitalist services admit patients for all the subspecialties of medicine, offering you a robust clinical experience. A comprehensive didactic lecture series covering core curricular topics balances out your busy clinical schedule. You’ll also participate in weekly antibiotic and point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) rounds to augment your learning.

Goals and objectives

Your primary job will be to learn. This will be accomplished through didactic sessions, case-based presentations and clinical exposure. Major goals for our fourth-year students are to build on a foundation of excellent history and physical examination skills and oral and written presentations. This rotation will focus on enhancing your clinical reasoning skills, particularly with complex medical patients, and will provide you with the opportunity to function like an acting intern. You’ll write billable notes on your patients, write orders and participate in admissions and handoffs. Specific competency-based objectives are listed below.

• Medical knowledge: Acquire core and advanced, evidence-based knowledge related to internal medicine and integrate basic pathophysiology with clinical patient management.
• Patient care: Become proficient in obtaining a medical history and perform a physical examination, presenting patients in an organized, concise fashion and integrating clinical reasoning skills into management plans.
• Communication and interpersonal skills: Effectively exchange information between patients, their families and professional associates.
• Practice-based learning and improvement: Investigate and evaluate your patient care practices and appraise and assimilate scientific evidence to improve patient care practices. Use feedback to improve your own skills.
• Systems-based practice: Efficiently and effectively function in the clinical setting by working with other health professionals as a team and developing the skills to perform and interpret clinical procedures. Demonstrate commitment to being an active participant in all clinical activities. Participate in patient handoffs at the beginning and end of your shift.
• Professionalism: Behave in a professional manner with patients and colleagues at all times. Professionalism requires a commitment to the highest standards of excellence in the practice of medicine and serving the interests and welfare of the patient. Professional behavior includes honesty, a commitment to lifelong learning and service, respect and compassion for patients and colleagues, maintenance of personal appearance, respectful language and behavior, responsibility for actions, and recognition of limitations.