Frequently Asked Questions
with Real Answers
Take a minute to hear from Dr. Elyse Jensen (Class of 2022) regarding her decision to choose Geisinger Med-Peds.
Where do residents live? Do most residents rent or buy houses/apartments? ​
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Danville and the surrounding communities offer residents ample supply of high-quality, safe and affordable housing.
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About half of the Med-Peds program has chosen to purchase homes or townhomes and the other half rent primarily in Danville or Bloomsburg, home to Bloomsburg University, and Lewisburg, home to Bucknell University.
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If you choose to purchase a house, the mortgage payments are typically close to/below rent prices (so it's definitely something to think about although not for everyone).
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Most of us who live in Danville can even live close enough to the hospital to walk or bike to work everyday!
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For those driving, it's typically only a 5-10 minute drive (maximum).
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There is absolutely free parking at all Geisinger sites for residents (about a 5 minute walk or shuttle ride in from the employee parking lot).
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What do we like to do in our spare time?
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Danville’s two nearby college towns (Bloomsburg, home to Bloomsburg University, and Lewisburg, home to Bucknell University) feature restaurants, theaters, shops and farmer’s markets that give Geisinger Medical Center a “big city in a small town” flair.
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Visit Hershey Park for the day or stop at the Tannersville Premium Outlets.
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Variety of options for outdoor recreation including hiking, kayaking, biking, fishing, skiing and more!
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Don’t miss the Bloomsburg Fair, an East Coast tradition.
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Reach New York City/Washington D.C. in around 3 hours or Pittsburgh in 3.5 hours.
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Make it to the Philadelphia International Airport in 2.5 hours, or the Wilkes Barre-Scranton Airport and Harrisburg International Airport in under 1.5 hours.
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What do residents like most about Geisinger?
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The Geisinger "culture" embraces a "fail forward" mentality with an emphasis on learning and asking questions; there is no criticism for not knowing the "right" answer.
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The people! Create and cultivate a family atmosphere between residents - inclusive, supportive. This is a very important part of how we choose applicants.
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No limit to educational opportunities and/or career opportunities - even though we are a rural program, the connections Geisinger provides within the hospital, community and the state are abundant.
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Is there anything you wish you could change about living in Danville?​
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As you might notice from mapping Danville, we are not a huge town so this limits a few things, primarily huge options in food choices and close proximity to large airports.
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With that being said, there is a large diversity of residents within residency programs which fosters the ability to connect with new friends over foods of all ethnicities (Nigerian, Indian, etc.).
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Regarding proximity to airports, Harrisburg airport is a little over an hour drive and offers a good variety of direct flights. Wilkes-Barre airport is about 45 minutes which also offers direct flights and is super accessible (easy parking and security lines). Philadelphia is only a little over 2 hours; Newark (2.5 hrs); Baltimore (2.5 hrs) and Dulles (3 hrs) are also fairly short distances especially for longer travels (like across country or overseas).
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Will I see enough diversity in patient pathology?
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Despite a primarily Caucasian patient population, we are the tertiary care referral center for Northern Pennsylvania, southern aspects of New York - a huge catchment area which provides a wide diversity!
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Some patients will drive up to 2-3 hours to receive care at Geisinger.
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Not only do you see "bread and butter" Medicine and Pediatric cases but also rare and interesting cases.
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There is the opportunity to do an away rotation as an upper level resident at a different hospital center in order to gain additional educational experiences.
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Do you feel supported by the program and leadership team?
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There is no shortage of support within our program leadership.
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Each year, incoming interns are paired with PGY3 residents to serve as a "Big-Little" relationship - this is designed to give interns specific go-to people for their questions and concerns.
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Monthly meetings with the associate program directors (APDs) to serve as "check points" in wellness, education, mentorship
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Chief residents are super involved in the lives of the interns and the rest of the program to make sure everyone is maintaining a healthy "work-life" balance.
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Every 6 months, each resident meets individually with the Program Director to go over the past 6 months, evaluations, goals and help set you on the path to achieving those goals.
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Do you think there is benefit in having the Pediatric Hospital on the same campus as the Medicine Hospital?
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Absolutely!!
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One of the main reasons residents chose Med-Peds was to have an integrative educational experience; by having the hospitals on the same campus, you are able to experience the best of both worlds
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Life as a resident is so busy; having your colleagues, especially Med-Peds colleagues within walking distance in the hospital is a huge added benefit.
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Another benefit is the EHR is integrated between both hospitals and even outpatient clinics.
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What fellowships are offered at Geisinger? Click here for fellowship information
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Addiction medicine
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Bariatric medicine and nutrition
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Cardiology
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Interventional cardiology
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Electrophysiology
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Clinical informatics
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Critical care medicine
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Gastroenterology
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Advanced endoscopy
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Hematology/oncology
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Hospice and palliative medicine
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Nephrology
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Pulmonary and critical care medicine
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Rheumatology
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Sports medicine
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Where do residents go after graduation?
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Our residents really have limitless options for choices after graduation. About 50% enter primary care and about 50% typically enter fellowship programs. See our "Alumni" tab for the latest information.
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There is a huge variety of Medicine-driven fellowships offered through Geisinger. There are no Pediatric fellowship opportunities; however, we view this as a great opportunity to directly interact with the attendings and obtain more hands-on experience with procedures.
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On the Medicine and Pediatrics sides, there are outstanding fellowship match rates.
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Regarding primary care, you will have received a great foundation in community clinic with weekly continuity clinic. There are countless Geisinger Community Medicine clinics who hire residents straight out of residency training with fantastic benefits and sign-on bonuses.
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