Program overview
Curriculum
This three-year residency is based at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, with select rotations at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center and the Wilkes-Barre Veterans Affairs Hospital. 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 at your outpatient continuity site.
- 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 your outpatient continuity site.
- 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 at your outpatient continuity site.
- 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 years occurs as night float and Saturday weekend calls at a rate of approximately 1:8.
Residents in the community
Volunteers in Medicine
Volunteers in Medicine is a local free clinic in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Pa. You’ll spend two to four afternoons over the course of your PGY2 year volunteering alongside community primary care physicians.
Wilkes-Barre Area School District
Jason Woloski, MD, acts as medical director for the school system. As such, our residents and faculty provide school and sports physicals for hundreds of children and teenagers within the district and serve as sideline physicians for high school football home games.
Community service
We offer a half-day community service retreat once per academic year and require individual community service commitments from all residents throughout their training with us.
Specialty tracks
Spanish Language Track
This competitive three-year longitudinal track is open to one resident per class year. Applications are taken in the fall of PGY1. Some Spanish language knowledge is required, but fluency is not necessary. At the completion of the program, you will be certified as a translator for Spanish and be able to communicate fluently with Spanish-speaking patients in your own practice.
Addiction Medicine Track
This is a competitive three-year track designed for one resident per class. Applications are taken in the fall of PGY1. The track includes additional training in various settings, additional teaching responsibilities and a scholarly activity. While it may be used as preparation for an addiction medicine fellowship, that is not a requirement for application.
This track is a continuity experience occurring over all three years of residency and is in addition to a resident’s normal curriculum. The intention of this track is to prepare the resident to develop the skills necessary to seek a career in academics.