
Family Medicine Residency - Northeast
Change people’s lives for the better. Learn how with a Geisinger family medicine residency.
About us
Training you and your colleagues to be the best future physicians: That’s the academic goal of the Kistler Family Medicine Residency in Wilkes-Barre. Named in honor of highly regarded family physician and community leader David Kistler, MD, the program teaches community-based family physicians so they can thrive in our local area, the state of Pennsylvania and the rest of the country.
The program launched in 2007 and attracts talented medical students from across the country. As a resident, you’ll practice in a dedicated family medicine residency clinic attached to the hospital in which you admit adult patients on an unopposed service. Throughout your residency, you’ll establish your own panel of patients, whom you’ll follow to the hospital or nursing home and across the continuum of their care.
- Your training will focus on providing high-quality, patient-centered care. We encourage residents to become caring and conscientious community family medicine physicians — doctors we would want as our own personal physicians.
- Once you complete our program, we hope you’ll become our colleague at Geisinger. Residents trained here can stay here if they choose.
- If you go elsewhere, use what you’ve learned here to improve care in other places and act as an ambassador for our program and Geisinger.
Our home: Northeastern Pennsylvania
Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) is a great place to live, with safe neighborhoods, an affordable cost of living and access to recreational activities. NEPA is close to New York City and Philadelphia, giving you access to major cities in just a few hours. Overall, our communities are a good bet for living stress-free, healthy lifestyles. And more importantly, NEPA is a place where you can make a difference.
Curriculum
This three-year residency is based at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, with select rotations at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center. Our family medicine residency curriculum meets the requirements for both the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians (ABOFP) and the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Your first year emphasizes acute inpatient care with both children and adults. You’ll spend one to two half-days per week in our outpatient clinic.
- Inpatient pediatrics
- Obstetrics (two blocks)
- Inpatient family medicine (two blocks)
- Cardiology
- Dermatology
- Orthopaedics and podiatry
- Emergency medicine
- Gynecology
- General surgery and trauma
- ICU
- Newborn service
Your second year will expand upon the skills learned in the first year and introduces continuity obstetrical care, home visits, nursing home and office-based skills. You’ll spend two to four half-days per week in our outpatient clinic.
- Psychiatry consult liaison
- Pulmonology and sleep medicine
- Inpatient family medicine (three blocks)
- Pediatric urgent care
- Geriatrics
- Inpatient pediatrics
- Practice management
- PCU
- Elective (two blocks)
- Radiology/rheumatology
- Addiction medicine
- Outpatient pediatrics and child abuse
Your third year will give you time to explore the aspects of family medicine you feel you need prior to graduation and your transition to independent practice. You’ll spend three to four half-days per week in our outpatient clinic.
- Urology
- Inpatient family medicine (two blocks)
- Sports medicine
- Outpatient pediatrics
- Community medicine
- ENT and ophthalmology
- Elective (four blocks)
- Endocrinology and gastroenterology
- Hematology/oncology and palliative care
You’ll have additional education through weekly core lectures, grand rounds and a longitudinal practice management immersion. You’ll enjoy teaching opportunities, both on inpatient and outpatient rotations, as well as various other settings, with both Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine students as well as medical students who rotate through VSAS.
There is no call expectation in the PGY1 year. Call in the PGY2 and PGY3 year is at home taking outpatient phone calls and questions, and occurs at a rate of less than 1:12. PGY2 and PGY3 residents also cover Saturday clinic hours one-on-one with faculty a few times each year.
Residents in the community
Specialty tracks
Frequently asked questions