Pediatric sub-internship

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine offers a four-week pediatric sub-internship at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital, which is the pediatric care leader throughout central and northeastern Pennsylvania. The hospital has 36 general medicine/surgery beds (18 beds for patients between ages 2 weeks and 7 years, and another 18 beds for ages 8 to 21), 22 newborn/maternal rooms and 12 pediatric critical care and 38 neonatal intensive care beds.

The Division of Pediatrics at the children’s hospital annually manages an average of 2,000 general medical/surgical cases;1,600 newborn deliveries; 580 NICU and 400 PICU admissions; 20,000 general outpatient pediatric visits; and 30,000 pediatric subspecialty outpatient visits. We provide comprehensive pediatric care that includes pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric hematology and oncology, pediatric cardiology, pediatric infectious diseases, pediatric endocrinology, pediatric pulmonology, and pediatric rheumatology.

You will be integrated into our services by actively participating in the daily care of our patients. You’ll be expected to:

• Round on patients daily, including pre-rounding in the mornings and participating during teaching rounds with staff physicians.
• Proficiently document history and physical examinations and progress notes.
• Write orders in our electronic medical record.
• Participate in decision-making, including discussion of the differential diagnosis, diagnostic workup and management plan.
• Perform admissions and discharges.
• Take one week of night call.

Goals and objectives

The overall educational goal of the pediatric sub-internship is to expose fourth-year medical students to what is expected of a first-year resident. This will help you acquire the clinical competence required to enter the next level of your training:

• Explain the pathophysiology and treatment options for pediatric patients on your service.
• Describe common pediatric procedures performed on the pediatric hospitalist service.
• Discuss acquired knowledge with the healthcare team.
• Use information technology to manage information and support self-education based on encounters with patients.
• Appraise and assimilate evidence from the medical literature related to a patient’s health problems.
• Apply knowledge of epidemiology, statistics and study design to appraise information on diagnostic and therapeutic effectiveness.
• Recommend and communicate with the healthcare team, patients and families the diagnostic and therapeutic plan.
• Create and sustain a therapeutic and ethically sound relationship with patients and families.
• Demonstrate the ability to work effectively as a member of the healthcare team.
• Prioritize patient tasks in order to meet the needs of patients in an organized manner.
• Gather essential and accurate patient information through history and physical exam.
• Construct appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic management plans for pediatric patients that engage the patient and family.
• Demonstrate responsiveness and sensitivity to needs of patients and colleagues.
• Advocate for quality patient care and assist patients in navigating their healthcare.
• Understand the practice of cost-effective pediatric healthcare.