Orthopaedic surgery

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine at Geisinger Medical Center offers a four-week medical student elective in orthopaedic surgery with Geisinger's Department of Orthopaedics. Our department sees more than 10,000 office visits per year and performs more than 6,000 surgical procedures annually. We provide comprehensive orthopaedic care that includes operative and non-operative management of orthopaedic problems, rehabilitation services and radiological services.

You will be integrated into our service by becoming active in the daily care of our patients. You’ll learn to examine common orthopaedic injuries, review appropriate radiographic studies, formulate treatment plans and assist the attending and resident physicians in caring for patients. Finally, you’ll be expected to participate in surgical procedures and to prepare and present a lecture on an orthopaedic topic.

Check out Geisinger’s orthopaedic residencies at our Central and Northeast campuses. 

Goals and objectives

The overall educational goal is for you to gain experience in the specialty of orthopaedic surgery. You’ll work directly with fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeons and primary care specialists, orthopaedic physician assistants, physical therapists and athletic trainers. 
Specific educational goals will include:

• Knowledge acquisition of musculoskeletal system anatomy as it pertains to orthopaedic injuries, including fundamental knowledge of neck and spine injuries; injuries to the shoulder, elbow and hand; and injuries to the hip, knee and foot/ankle
• The ability to evaluate injured patients and formulate a treatment plan
• The ability to review related radiologic studies such as X-ray, MRI and CT scans of the musculoskeletal system
• Knowledge acquisition of the non-operative management of orthopaedic injuries
• The ability to discuss the fundamentals of surgical management of common injuries to the shoulder, knee, elbow, hand, foot and ankle