Curricular Highlights
One of the most rewarding and challenging aspects of family medicine is that patients rely on family doctors to provide care through a broad range of medical problems. Our curriculum is designed to expose residents to diverse clinical experiences taught by family physicians and specialists who are experts in their fields. After graduating from our program, residents will feel confident in providing their patients with excellent, comprehensive care in a wide variety of clinical settings.
Practice Management/Physician as Leader
As a Family Physician you will be expected to be a leader in your community. Our Program ensures you graduate with a command of a broad range of critical topics including medical malpractice, how to interact with the media (on television and radio), personal budgeting and retirement planning and many others. Besides these sessions dedicated to our Family Medicine residents, all Penn State Hershey Medical Center residents attend Core Competency lectures to cover related important topics. We prepare our residents to be leaders on the level of national organizations, state academies, local communities, hospitals, as well as successful in their personal finances and family life.
Global Health
The area of Global Health is important for future physicians, and family medicine physicians are among those taking leadership and doing amazing work. Our Department of Family and Community Medicine has strongly supported global health efforts. The Global Health Center is a gathering point of multidisciplinary approaches, all of which seek to better understand and address health issues that transcend geographic borders and that commonly present a greater burden to disadvantaged populations. Our residency program offers tremendous opportunity domestically to care for underserved populations, particularly through our outpatient clinics and hospital experiences at the Good Samaritan Hospital.
Penn State Primary Care Sports Medicine Curriculum
Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center/Good Samaritan Hospital Family and Community Medicine Residency Program has an actively growing sports medicine division and curriculum. This dynamic residency experience incorporates a host of learning environments including time spent in sports medicine clinics, the athletic training room, and sideline/event coverage. Our sports medicine providers from Penn State Hershey Bone and Joint Institute
serve as team physicians for the Hershey Bears Hockey Club (American Hockey League), the Harrisburg Senators (AA Minor League Baseball), and several local high schools. Faculty also serve as district and state championship sports medicine providers offering residents with ample learning opportunities. Residents care for both pediatric and adult sports medicine patients in a variety of clinical arenas including primary care sports medicine, orthopaedic sports medicine, musculoskeletal radiology, and sports physical therapy.
The objective of our sports medicine curriculum is for all residents to graduate with mastery of the basics in musculoskeletal medicine. For those residents desiring a more in depth experience (for example, those who may wish to continue their training in a primary care sports medicine fellowship after residency), opportunities for longitudinal learning as well as sports medicine research are available.
Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship
Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center/Good Samaritan Hospital Family and Community Medicine Residency Program also has a primary care sports medicine fellowship in our State College location. Penn State Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, located in State College, Pennsylvania, provides a range of orthopaedic services to the community. In addition, each of the sports medicine physicians in State College serves as team physician for the intercollegiate athletic sports teams at Penn State, providing the fellow with ample exposure to both the team physician and athletic populations. The fellow plays a role in onsite field coverage for athletic teams as scheduling demands and experience and interest dictate. He or she may become involved with any one of the twenty-nine Division 1A sports, as well as participate in any of our club programs, such as ice hockey and rugby. The sports medicine fellow is also actively involved with teaching residents sports medicine and general family medicine topics.