Internal Medicine

Experience That Lasts A Lifetime.

WellSpan York Hospital's Internal Medicine Residency program provides an outstanding educational environment for young physicians choosing a career in Internal Medicine.

Our program is fully accredited by the ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) and features a broad, clinically based curriculum and provides a diverse range of clinical learning experiences. It provides a supportive, yet intellectually demanding environment which encourages each resident to develop the professional ability, attitude and educational base required to excel in the clinical practice of Internal Medicine.

All residents are dealt with as junior colleagues. Because we strive to help each resident realize his or her maximum professional potential, special emphasis is placed on their individual development.

Our Comprehensive Curriculum Has Much To Offer

Educational Opportunities Abound:

• The program's flexible design affords an excellent opportunity to prepare for a career in either general internal medicine or a medicine subspecialty.
• Patient care responsibilities are based on sound educational principles, rather than service needs.
• Residents benefit from daily clinical conferences.
• Teams round with academic teaching hospitalists. All patients on the teams are civered by this one attending.
• The absence of competing fellowship programs means greater clinical opportunities for residents and closer working relationships with attending physicians.
• The Emig Research Center provides statistical and computer support for medical research.
• A state-of-the-art simulation center designed and built in 2008.

A Resident-Friendly Environment Exists.

• Our "cap" on the number of admissions assures that residents have an appropriate, but manageable, level of clinical responsibility.
• The program features a night float system.
• Residents benefit from a close, collegial relationship with attendings.
• The hospital provides twenty-four hour ancillary care/services (I.V. and Phlebotomy Teams and Transport Service).
• Access is provided to computer work stations for personal and educational activities.

A Training Ground That's Rigorous, Yet Flexible.

Our program provides intensive, superior training in general internal medicine while, at the same time, offering a resident the freedom to personalize his or her curriculum.

The program is built around a core of inpatient, ambulatory, and subspecialty rotations supplemented by daily teaching conferences (some conducted in cooperation with Family Medicine), weekly Grand Rounds, and monthly Journal Club and Morbidity/Mortality conferences - yet the large number of electives available in the second and third years affords a resident the opportunity to tailor his or her curriculum toward a specific career goal.

WellSpan York Hospital's Medicine Residency Is Highly Respected.

• WellSpan York Hospital has been recognized as one of the nation's top hospitals. (Solucient 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005; US News and World Report 1999, 2000; Top Integrated Health Network in 2007 and 2008 by Verispan Inc.)
• Our Internal Medicine Residency Program is affiliated with the Pennsylvania State University, Drexel University College of Medicine and the Thomas Jefferson University - Jefferson Medical College.

An Opportunity To Explore.

Residents enter Internal Medicine with variable, and often uncertain career goals. They may be undecided when it comes to primary care, a medical subspecialty, or a related area such as occupational medicine or public health. We take the responsibility of helping a resident sort through these career options seriously.

This is where our program excels. Residents spend a total of eight months on elective rotations during the second and third years. Many use this time to supplement their already substantial ambulatory experience by rotating in the office of one of our general internists.

Some residents use electives to develop skills, such as cardiac stress testing. Others use electives to explore subspecialty areas as possible career paths. Some residents find it useful to take a subspecialty rotation at a nearby medical school. As adult learners, residents are encouraged to use elective time to tailor their curriculum to their individual goals.

An Opportunity to Prepare for Subspecialty Training.

WellSpan York Hospital prepares residents for subspecialty fellowship training, Dedicated hospital and community physicians coordinate the elective rotations which allow residents to solidify decisions to pursue subspecialty training. These same physicians also serve as valuable resources who can mentor residents through the fellowship application process. Our affiliations with regional medical schools also permit residents the opportunity to train for a month at potential fellowship locations.

An Opportunity to Develop Hospitalist Skills.

Many residents at WellSpan York Hospital find hospital-based care to be so rewarding that they secure employment in this field. The supervised autonomy on the hospital's Medical Resident Inpatient Service lets the resident develop solid decision-making skills in managing both patient care and medical teams. Whether patients have common cardiovascular or respiratory illnesses, strokes or complications of malignancies, or unusual rheumatologic emergencies; the resident team admits a wide spectrum of medical ailments. Medical education, not hospital service need, is always at the focus of the Medical Resident Inpatient Service.

Additionally, on the resident's block Hospitalist Rotation, the resident is paired with one of the hospital's private hospitalist group providers. The two work side-by-side for a two-to-three month block allowing real life experience operating as a busy hospitalist. The WellSpan York Hospital residents consistently rank this rotation very high.

An Excellent Opportunity To Focus On Primary Care.

WellSpan York Hospital's program offers excellent primary care training opportunities. All first-year residents have a required ambulatory block rotation which includes office gynecology, ENT, liaison psychiatry and ophthalmology. In addition, they attend weekly teaching sessions to improve interviewing skills and enhance the physician/patient relationship.

Residents spend from one to two half days each week in a well organized, respected Internal Medicine Practice. More than just a clinic, we believe Apple Hill Internal Medicine offers Residents a true office practice experience. Here the Residents maintain their continuity practice, along with seven General Internist Faculty members. Additional time is spent in the practice during Ambulatory Block Rotations.

Weekly readings on primary topics are discussed prior to seeing patients each session. Residents with special interest in primary care may schedule electives with other office-based primary care internists. Each of these experiences is supplemented by a Primary Care Lecture Series, which is conducted twice a month throughout the year.

Affiliations

WellSpan York Hospital maintains a strong affiliation with Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Drexel University and the Thomas Jefferson University - Jefferson Medical College. Students from all four universities regularly rotate through our hospital. The Medicine Residents' Service serves as a core teaching rotation for Penn State Hershey, Drexel and Jefferson medical students.