Family and Community Medicine Residency (Hershey, Pa.)

Program Vision

To create an inspiring, diverse, supportive academic environment producing the next generation of full-spectrum family physicians prepared to lead, teach and thrive with excellence in a changing health care environment while serving the community.

Program Mission

Thriving personally, professionally through the pursuit of excellence in:

Patient Care

• Providing high-quality, equitable, sustainable care for a diverse population throughout the lifespan including the full breadth and depth of family medicine
• Training family physicians to coordinate care that is tailored to a specific patient’s needs and environment in a collaborative model of care
• Enhancing the care of patients across education, scholarship and community engagement
• Providing skills to address patients’ needs as a population and lead systematic improvements in quality and health equity in clinical and community environments

Education

• Fostering an innovative and safe educational environment for residents and learners of all levels, founded in the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion
• Providing the tools to thrive and lead in medical education
• Nurturing critical thinking and lifelong learning in the context of evidence-based care
• Offering personalized mentoring and the creation of an individualized, diverse learning experience

Scholarship

• Fostering a culture of intellectual curiosity
• Developing innovations in patient care, health equity and education to advance the specialty of family medicine
• Supporting the dissemination of new knowledge to improve society
• Encouraging collaboration across disciplines locally, regionally, nationally and globally

Community

• Preparing family physicians to identify and adapt to the needs of local communities and marginalized populations
• Developing skills to leverage available community resources within a clinical environment
• Cultivating community responsive practices including advocacy in addressing the social determinants of health
• Engaging community and public health resources to advance the health of populations through disease prevention and health promotion

General Application Information

All applicants must apply through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).

Please note that the program described on this website is Penn State’s Family and Community Medicine Residency Program in Hershey, Pennsylvania and listed as such in ERAS.

Both MD and DO applicants are welcome to apply for the program. During residency, both DOs and MDs are able to opt in to osteopathic recognition.

The NRMP number for the program is 1617120C0.

Applicants will only be considered for interview and entry into the program if they meet the basic eligibility criteria below.

Preference will be given to those applicants with solid academic standing at an LCME-accredited medical school and with a record of leadership, teamwork, compassion, and integrity.

Applicants are discouraged from making solicitations to the program via telephone call or through means other than ERAS.

Review the Office of Graduate Medical Education Eligibility and Selection of Residents Policy.

Eligibility Criteria for Graduates of LCME – Accredited Allopathic US and Canadian Medical Schools

• Graduated from medical school within the past three years
• Passed USMLE (Steps 1 and 2) with no more than one total prior failure
• Passed the Clinical Skills (CS) exam on first attempt
• Three letters of recommendation, including at least one from a family physician

Eligibility Criteria for Osteopathic Graduates

• Graduated from medical school within the past three years
• Graduates of colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States accredited by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA)
• COMLEX scores passed with no more than one total prior failure
• Three letters of recommendation, including at least one from a family physician

Eligibility Criteria for Graduates of Non-LCME Accredited Medical Schools

Very highly qualified graduates of non-LCME accredited medical schools may possibly be considered for an interview if they meet the residency’s high standards for consideration.

• Graduated from medical school within the past three years
• Passed USMLE (Steps 1 and 2) with no more than one total prior failure
• Passed the Clinical Skills (CS) exam on first attempt
• Minimum of three months clinical training in the US or Canada, or clinical experience elsewhere which clearly demonstrates an understanding and interest in primary care and Family Medicine in particular
• Three letters of recommendation, including at least one from a family physician or primary-care physician

Non-U.S. Applicants

• The program accepts only J-1 visas.
• ERAS is available to students and graduates of international medical school through ECFMG, which serves as their designated dean’s office.
• All graduates of international medical schools must hold a valid certificate issued by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) to be appointed as a resident or fellow. For details on certification, please contact the ECFMG at
  • info@ecfmg.org
  • ECFMG
    3624 Market St.
    Philadelphia PA 19104-2865

Selection and Interview Process

Interviews are granted to outstanding candidates following receipt of a complete ERAS application. Applications are released to programs and will be reviewed starting Sept. 25, 2024. Applicants are encouraged to start this process early. Candidate’s ERAS application and preference signaling list should ideally be completed by this date and will be reviewed on rolling basis throughout the remainder of the interview season.

Invitations for interviews will be sent via email prior to Oct. 8, 2024. Invitations from our waitlist will be extended on a continuous, rolling basis throughout the interview season.

Interviews are by invitation only and are scheduled to begin Oct. 23, 2024, for most Wednesdays in October, November and December. To enhance equity in the interview process, all residency interviews will be held virtually. The program will arrange a virtual social hour with current residents the week prior to the interview.

During the interview day, applicants will interview with the program director, faculty members and residents.

About the Program Director

Karl Clebak, MD, MHA, FAAFP, is a Penn State College of Medicine graduate and joined the Department of Family and Community Medicine as faculty in 2016. He has served as a core faculty member for the residency program and as medical director for Penn State Health Medical Group – Nyes Road.

Dr. Clebak has been instrumental in developing and implementing eConsults – electronic consultations of specialists – at Penn State Health. He has also written numerous scholarly works including indexed journals, book chapters and peer-reviewed electronic media on skin-related, procedural and evidence-based topics, and graduate medical education.

Faculty Directory

Past residents are found all over the Unites States, in all varieties of practice settings. Many residents choose to stay in the area. Some graduates have gone on to practice in large cities. Others have chosen to practice in small rural towns. Several graduates have gone onto fellowships in sports medicine, palliative care, obstetrics and geriatrics. A number of residents have entered into academic medicine as medical school or residency faculty.

Virtual Tour

Penn State Health

Penn State Health is an integrated academic health system serving patients and communities across 25 counties in central Pennsylvania. It employs more than 20,900 people systemwide.

The system includes Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State Health Children’s Hospital and Penn State Cancer Institute based in Hershey, Pa.; Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center in Enola, Pa.; Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center in Camp Hill, Pa.; Penn State Health Lancaster Medical Center in Lancaster, Pa.; Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Reading, Pa.; Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, a specialty provider of inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services, in Harrisburg, Pa.; and 2,417 physicians and direct care providers at 225 outpatient practices. Additionally, the system jointly operates various healthcare providers, including Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital, Hershey Outpatient Surgery Center and Hershey Endoscopy Center.

In 2017, Penn State Health partnered with Highmark Health to facilitate creation of a value-based, community care network in the region.

Penn State Health shares an integrated strategic plan and operations with Penn State College of Medicine, the University’s medical school. With campuses in State College and Hershey, Pa., the College of Medicine boasts a portfolio of more than $150 million in funded research and more than 1,700 students and trainees in medicine, nursing, other health professions and biomedical research.

Learn more about Penn State Health

Penn State Health Children’s Hospital (left), Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (center) and Penn State Cancer Institute (right)

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

500 University Dr., Hershey, Pa., 17033 (Derry Township, Dauphin County)

• The health system’s 611-bed flagship teaching and research hospital
• The only medical facility in Pennsylvania accredited as both an adult and a pediatric Level I (highest-level) trauma center
• Dedicated surgical, neuroscience, cardiovascular, trauma and medical intensive care units
• Accredited Life Lion critical-care transport providing more than 1,100 helicopter and approximately 750 ground ambulance transports per year
• More than 1,300 faculty members and more than 650 residents and fellows
• Approximately 29,000 admissions, 73,000 emergency department visits, 1.1 million outpatient visits and 33,000 surgical procedures annually
• Designated as a Magnet hospital since 2007

Learn more about Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Penn State Health Children’s Hospital

600 University Dr., Hershey, Pa. 17033 (Derry Township, Dauphin County)

• An eight-story, 263,000-square-foot-facility built in 2013 and expanded in 2020
• 160 licensed pediatric beds, 26-bed pediatric intensive care unit and a 56-bed neonatal intensive care unit
• Level IV (highest-level) neonatal intensive care unit
• Level I quaternary (highest-level) pediatric intensive care unit
• Level I (highest-level) pediatric trauma center designation
• Intermediate care unit
• Dedicated pediatric operating rooms
• More than 150,000 pediatric outpatient visits, 20,000 pediatric emergency room visits, and approximately 5,000 pediatric patient discharges annually

Learn more about Penn State Health Children’s Hospital

Welcome to Hershey

More About Hershey

Interested in learning more about living and working in Hershey, Pa.? See details here:

• Benefit and stipend information
• Virtual tour
• GME policies
• Wellness resources
• More about Penn State Health and its locations
• Application and visa requirements

The program understands the importance of family in the life of a resident and believes Hershey is a wonderful place to live, with a beautiful setting, relatively low cost of living, excellent schools and ample employment opportunities.

Wellness, including emotional, spiritual, social and physical health, is a crucial component to training and to becoming a professional, compassionate and resilient physician. Self-care is a skill which must be continually practiced and reinforced. Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health are committed to addressing wellness among residents and fellows, with multiple resources readily available.

Institutional resources

• Visit BeWell – a health program designed to support Penn State Health employees
• See Penn State College of Medicine wellness resources here
• Employee Health Care Concierge and Case Management Service
• Partners in Medicine
  Moving to a new city with your family does not have to be stressful. Residency programs have assisted many significant others with finding employment. There is also a GME-Wide Partners in Medicine (PIM) group that offers networking opportunities as well as various social and community oriented activities.
• The Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine
• Active and easily accessed Office of Professional Mental Health

Graduate medical education resources

• See resident and fellow wellness resources here

Program Resources

The Family and Community Medicine Residency at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center recognizes the challenges faced by primary care clinicians in a changing health care system. The program strives to prepare residents for a lifetime of effective management of stress and adversity to optimize health, well-being and success at work and at home.

• The program has an annual retreat with residents, faculty and staff.
• Residents participate in wellness groups, each focused on supporting a different aspect of wellness, such as social connectedness, decreasing administrative burden, etc.
• Some recent projects championed by residents include overseeing the renovation of the family medicine call room, increasing access to dictation software, streamlining access to clinic support tools and increasing access to healthy snacks during work.

Together, these efforts help create a stable foundation for lifelong growth and resilience in a challenging career.

Institutional Resources

Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine celebrate, embrace and support the diversity of all patients, faculty, staff, students and trainees.

Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In keeping with this, Penn State Health has an active Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with various programs, networks and resource groups, including:

• Talks and lectures on diversity, equity and inclusion through the Inclusion Academy
• Regular events on topics such as eradicating racism and creating a culture of inclusiveness
• Many Business Employee Resource Groups (BERGs), including:
  • Disability Business Employee Resource Group
  • Interfaith Business Employee Resource Group
  • LGBTQ+ Business Employee Resource Group
  • Military and Veterans Business Employee Resource Group
  • Multicultural Business Employee Resource Group
  • NextGen Business Employee Resource Group
• Black Physician Professional Staff Association – Resource Group
• Hispanic Professional Association
• Asian Physician and Professional Staff Association
• International Workforce Inclusion
• Inclusion Academy

Learn more about the Penn State Health Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Learn more about the College of Medicine’s Office for Diversity, Equity and Belonging

Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education

The vision at Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health is to equip learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they will need to provide culturally excellent health care and research for an increasingly diverse U.S. population. The Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education was formed to help meet that goal.

Learn more about the Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education

Office for a Respectful Learning Environment

In addition, the institution does not tolerate discrimination, biases, microaggression, harassment or learner mistreatment of any kind, and any concerns are immediately addressed by the Office for a Respectful Learning Environment.

Learn more about the Office for a Respectful Learning Environment

Network of Under-represented Residents and Fellows
The Network of Under-represented Residents and Fellows (NURF) is a group of diverse residents and fellows representing all specialties. NURF’s goal is to promote cultural diversity in the residency programs through community involvement, mentorship with diverse faculty, professional networking and support for the recruitment of diverse medical students into the residency programs.

NURF is sponsored by the Penn State College of Medicine Graduate Medical Education Office and the Penn State Health Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Learn more information about NURF

Mailing Address

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Department of Family Medicine
500 University Drive, H154
PO Box 850
Hershey, PA 17033-0850

General Contact Information

Phone: 717-531-8186

Email: FMRes@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

The program’s curriculum is designed to expose residents to diverse clinical experiences taught by family physicians and specialists who are experts in their fields.

Upon graduation from the program, residents will feel confident in providing their patients with excellent, comprehensive care in a wide variety of clinical settings. For residents with particular interests, the program offers areas of concentration in academic medicine, care of the marginalized patient, geriatrics and lifestyle medicine, global health, hospital medicine, leadership and advocacy, sports medicine and women’s health.

In addition to standard rotations, residents participate in various elective and longitudinal rotations. These rotations supplement resident education in specific areas of interest and take advantage of the educational opportunities at the academic medical center. Rotations are subject to change.

Certain important training experiences are taught in a progressive, “longitudinal” format and do not appear as distinct rotations. The nature of training of behavioral health, population health and health systems management lends itself to education in time, and thus resident training in these areas is interwoven throughout all three years. One month of vacation time is provided each year, and will be incorporated into each resident’s individual schedule.

The program is distinguished by its:

• History. Recognizing the importance of family medicine, in 1967, Penn State College of Medicine established the nation’s first Department of Family and Community Medicine in an academic health center. With the residency established in 1971, the department continues to lead the way in family medicine education today. It has well-designed clinical sites and structures, is stable and rich in educational resources, and is overseen by highly talented faculty who are mentors and invested in resident education.
• Faculty. Residents are mentored by family physicians who are accomplished in the delivery of patient care, global health, sports medicine, advocacy, research and education, among other interests within family medicine and beyond. Learn more about the faculty.
• Residents. The program’s residents are highly accomplished, motivated and enthusiastic. Graduates from the program have matched into competitive fellowships, established solo practices in rural communities, practiced in urban settings at Federally Qualified Health Centers and are faculty at academic programs across the United States. Meet the current residents.
• Wellness. Dedicated curricular time and a Wellness Committee jointly run by residents and faculty helps ensure that residents learn to “relax hard” while also working hard during residency. During the weekly academic half-day of didactics, there is time reserved for Wellness at Work, focusing on mindfulness, gratitude, team building and maintaining connections. The program also has an annual retreat with residents, faculty and staff. The Wellness Leadership Group, consisting of a dedicated group of faculty and residents, works together to organize wellness related didactic time during our weekly afternoon conferences. This time has included a “mini-retreat” with team-building and relaxation exercises, typically during the doldrums of winter. The program organizes extracurricular outings to help reduce stress and foster connectedness among residents and faculty. Learn more about wellness.
• Areas of concentration. Residents with special areas of interest are encouraged to enhance their skills with structured curricula in academic medicine, care of the marginalized patient, geriatrics and lifestyle medicine, global health, hospital medicine, leadership and advocacy, sports medicine and women’s health. Explore areas of concentration.
• Scholarly activity. The program has an innovative resident research curriculum that pairs residents with family medicine PhD research mentors. Additionally, there are plenty of opportunities to contribute to scholarship with writing opportunities through the American Family Physician, the Journal of Family Practice, Essential Evidence Plus, the Family Physicians Inquiry Network and many others. Residents are supported by experienced faculty and with curricular time devoted to the area. Residents have gained national and international recognition for dozens of publications, posters and presentations in journals and at national and international conferences.
• Academic setting. Embedded within an academic medical center, residents can access resources such as a world-class Simulation Center and electronic resources that are not readily available in smaller hospitals.
• Care for community. Residents graduate with very practical, highly valued experiences in quality improvement to help optimize their patients’ care in the clinical setting. Residents also work with faculty to partner with the community, developing skills in community needs assessment and engagement and making real, positive impact for the underserved populations of central Pennsylvania.

Advisers

An adviser is assigned to each resident at the outset of training. Advisers meet with residents regularly to review progress, share feedback, develop educational plans and serve as general support. The program also encourages residents to develop less formal, elective mentorships with other faculty for support and guidance in any specific areas of interest.

Clinic families

Similar to “big”/”little” programs during medical school and undergraduate education, incoming PGY-1 residents are paired with a PGY-2 and PGY-3 “family.” These teams come from off-site practices to help facilitate connections throughout the year. The program also dedicates time during the education half-day monthly for “families” to meet and catch up.

Electronic medical record

The Medical Center uses a Cerner product called PowerChart. Reflecting the value placed on continuity of care, the same PowerChart tool is used in outpatient clinics as well as the inpatient hospital.

Fellowships

The program has two affiliated sports medicine fellowship programs, one in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and one in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State Health also offers a primary care Geriatric Medicine Fellowship through the Department of Medicine and an Interdisciplinary Addiction Medicine Fellowship through the Department of Pediatrics.

Integration

In this collaborative program, residents have plenty of opportunity for collaboration across disciplines. Residents rotate with pediatric, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine and emergency medicine colleagues and are essential members of the team. Residents also participate in interdisciplinary rounds while on inpatient rotations. During the third year, residents participate in a mock trial event with law students from Penn State Dickinson Law.

Meals

Residents are all provided with meal cards that act like prepaid debit cards, which may be used at any Hershey Medical Center dining locations.

Procedures

Residents learn essential procedural skills in regularly scheduled resident procedure clinic sessions. During these sessions, which are within their continuity clinic, residents work with faculty to learn procedures such as skin biopsies, joint injections and insertion/removal of long acting reversible contraception. Each continuity site has an ultrasound available for resident use at the point of care for musculoskeletal procedures, obstetrics and diagnostic applications. Dermoscopy is available and routinely used as well. Procedure skills are also developed with workshops and simulations during didactic sessions. Residents also gain experience with procedures throughout their inpatient and outpatient rotations.

Resident Input

The program schedules regular resident meetings with the program director and chief residents in order to provide residents with a forum to convey their opinions on the program and engage with ways to improve. Residents also provide feedback through annual surveys on curriculum and faculty. Residents assist in selecting chief residents, who will serve as their voice in the program. Residents are also appointed as members of our curriculum review committee that meets monthly to continually review and improve resident experiences. Similarly, wellness projects are resident-driven and faculty-supported as part of departmental wellness task forces.

Scholarly activity

As an academic medical center, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center presents virtually limitless opportunities for research. Faculty members are eager to pair with residents to publish novel research and the Department of Family and Community Medicine highly values scholarly work. Residents receive training on how to develop projects, gain IRB approval, implement their work and present their findings. Residents routinely present independent research at local, regional and national forums and receive strong support from the program to do so. The program is fortunate to have the dedicated support of a family and community medicine research division.

Teaching

Residents teach Penn State College of Medicine students every rotation. Residents are provided with “Residents as Educators” sessions as part of Wednesday afternoon didactics, where they learn how to integrate students into clinic and provide feedback to students effectively. Teaching by residents is so highly regarded by medical students that they have awarded several residents recognition as exceptional teachers and role models. Residents have the opportunity to participate in offerings through Penn State College of Medicine’s Woodward Center for Excellence in Health Sciences Education, including the clinical educator track.

All residents participate in a community health longitudinal experience. During this rotation, residents visit local employers to learn about occupational health and wellness and disability and related issues. Residents have the opportunity to work with a local interfaith shelter to understand the health problems of the homeless and observe a local Intermediate Unit to participate in assessments of children with developmental delays.

All residents are also mentored in a community-based project of their own choosing to engage with a local community organization to improve the health of a specific population. Residents have focused on addressing health care needs of urban LGBT and HIV populations, health promotion for Coptic Christians, health promotion for at risk teens in a court-adjudicated residential program, LionCare and group tobacco cessation in a homeless population with a history of drug addiction at a local mission.

About the Director of Osteopathic Education

Anne Darby, DO, is the Director of Osteopathic Education for the Family and Community Medicine Residency (Hershey, Pa). She is fellowship-trained in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) from Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine and has extensive OMM clinical and teaching experience. She completed her family medicine residency training at Promedica Toledo Hospital, a dually accredited program, where she also served as co-chief resident.

She joined Penn State in 2017 and has built the osteopathic recognition program from the ground up. She also serves as faculty in the general Family and Community Medicine Residency and has interests in scholarly activity and precepting a wide range of outpatient family medicine topics and procedures.

Osteopathic Faculty

One of the greatest strengths of the osteopathic recognition program at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is the osteopathic faculty. There are currently five DO residency faculty members who teach and supervise osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM). The breadth of the faculty provides ample opportunity for residents to develop and advance their OMM skills during residency in multiple settings, including outpatient, inpatient, obstetrics and newborn nursery.

Resident Erin Jones, DO, performs osteopathic manipulative treatment on a patient under the supervision of William Miller, DO, at Penn State Health Medical Group Nyes Road in July 2020.

The osteopathic recognition program is rigorous and distinctive in many ways. All residents (DO and MD) participate in a three-year curriculum of osteopathic lectures and hands-on osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) workshops.

DO and MD residents alike are encouraged to participate in the osteopathic recognition track, which offers basic as well as advanced OMM educational opportunities. There are two dedicated OMM sites, at the Nyes Road and Fishburn clinics. OMM clinics have a dedicated DO preceptor for each session, and OMM tables are available for use at each site.

Osteopathic scholarly activity opportunities are another strength of the program. Residents can teach osteopathic morning report lectures or Wednesday afternoon didactic sessions and hands-on workshops. There are also opportunities to teach MD students from Penn State College of Medicine.

Faculty and residents regularly present osteopathic topics at national conferences. In addition, the dedicated research and scholarly activity curriculum provides support for residents interested in osteopathic research.

As a tertiary-care referral center, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center provides care to patients who have unique medical problems and provides for highly educational learning opportunities.

However, as the only hospital in the community, the medical center also provides care for “routine” diagnoses as a family doctor would expect to see in any community where they might practice.

Outpatient medicine is an essential aspect of family medicine. Residents will be the personal physician for an individual panel of patients at one of two outpatient practice sites: Penn State Health Medical Group – Fishburn Road or Penn State Health Medical Group – Nyes Road. Both of these sites offer a premier educational setting, and residents at both practice sites benefit through immersion in full-spectrum family medicine, and upon graduation are well-prepared for the rigors of family practice.

Residents also receive training on providing care to underserved patients within the community health longitudinal experience. Those residents who have further interest in serving the underserved volunteer at LionCare, a nonprofit, free clinic dedicated run by Penn State College of Medicine MD students to serving the medical, psychological and health needs of the underserved in nearby Harrisburg, Pa.

Inpatient medicine rotations are scheduled throughout all three years of a resident’s patient care education. Residents care for patients on the family medicine inpatient service within Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. This educational setting provides for intense, direct patient care under the direction and guidance of attending physicians.

Experienced preceptors provide on-the-spot education for resident clinical encounters and also work alongside residents in both outpatient and inpatient settings.

Nyes Road, located close to the state capital of Harrisburg, is the primary location for more than 20 family medicine attending physicians and advanced practice providers spread across two suites. Attending providers have a variety of interests, including prenatal care, evidence-based medicine, sports medicine, prenatal care and health care management. The suburban practice site serves a wide variety of patients with a mix of both private and public insurance. The patient population ranges from young families to geriatric patients, with a growing Nepali panel.

Patients receive care from residents and attending physicians, complemented by on-site specialties including obstetrics and gynecology, dermatology, nephrology and cardiology. Nyes Road also features on-site phlebotomy, mammography and radiology services. In addition to resident teaching, Nyes Road serves as a medical student clerkship site and has been consistently named a preferred exceptional teaching site for medical and physician assistant students. The site is a 20-minute drive from Hershey Medical Center while still offering easy access to downtown Harrisburg, a popular social destination among residents from all Penn State College of Medicine residency programs.

Distinguished by its close proximity to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, this site’s attending physicians and advanced practice providers have diverse interests including sports medicine, prenatal care and geriatrics in addition to working with residents.

Resident teaching and learning opportunities are facilitated by the presence of first-, second-, third- and fourth-year College of Medicine students on clerkship rotations. The practice site also boasts on-site lab phlebotomy and X-ray capabilities. A coffee shop, a restaurant and a pizzeria are nearby. Additionally, Fishburn Road Medical Group is just down the street from Hershey Medical Center and from Briarcrest Square, a popular housing option among residents from all Hershey residency programs.

Founded in 1963 through a gift from the Milton S. Hershey Foundation, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is a leading academic medical center located in Hershey, Pa.

The Hershey Medical Center campus includes Penn State College of Medicine (Penn State’s medical school), Penn State Cancer Institute and Penn State Health Children’s Hospital – the region’s only children’s hospital.

Rigorous pursuit of academic knowledge is the hallmark of the Medical Center. Dedicated conference rooms and call rooms facilitate this education, and Harrell Health Sciences Library provides easy access to any electronic and printed medical reference that a resident needs to enhance their education.

Residents also learn in the cutting-edge Clinical Simulation Center. Virtual-reality, computer-based and model-driven simulators help residents master skills such as resuscitation and surgical techniques for adult and pediatric patients.

Family medicine residents can recharge at Au Bon Pain and Starbucks as well as the large Rotunda Cafe, all located within the medical center. University Fitness Center, across the street from the medical center, offers state-of-the-art equipment, services and programs to meet every individual’s needs.

Learn more about the medical center here.

Penn State Health Children’s Hospital is the only children’s hospital between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia fully equipped to treat the most severely ill children of central Pennsylvania, with both the highest-level neonatal intensive care unit and a Level I pediatric trauma center. Children’s Hospital physicians and nurses provide comprehensive support and specialized care to infants, children and adolescents every day.

Located on the campus of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa., the Children’s Hospital focuses on providing first-rate health care to all children, from those with complex heart disease to childhood cancers, allowing patients to receive the full spectrum of highest-quality care close to their homes. Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, adjacent to the Medical Center, includes surgical suites, inpatient rooms and outpatient clinics for children.

Learn more about the Children’s Hospital here.

• Orientation – half a month
• Adult inpatient medicine – one and a half months
• Night float – one and a half months
• Inpatient pediatrics – one month
• Pediatric allergy – half a month
• Emergency medicine – one month
• Pediatric ambulatory specialty – half a month
• Obstetrics – one and a half months
• Newborn nursery – half a month
• Sports medicine – one month
• Longitudinal – one month
• Elective – one and a half months

• Adult inpatient medicine – one and a half months
• Night float – one and a half months
• Emergency medicine – one month
• Elective – one and a half months
• Medical intensive care – one month
• Ambulatory pediatrics – one month
• Gynecology – one and a half months
• Longitudinal – one and a half months
• Longitudinal Behavioral Medicine – half a month
• Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital Geriatrics – one half month
• Lebanon VA Geriatrics – one half month

• Adult inpatient medicine – one and a half months
• Night float – one and a half months
• Sports medicine – one month
• Longitudinal – three months
• Elective – four months
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine – half a month
• Derm – half a month

The patients that residents care for on the adult inpatient service are the medical center’s own family medicine patients. This means that residents take care of “continuity” patients from family practices and are taught inpatient medicine by family physicians. Resident education is supplemented by collaborating specialist consultants and fellows.

This rotation is one of the busiest, most intense experiences during residency. Under the supervision of the family medicine faculty, the service is run continuously by a team of junior and senior family medicine residents and supported by two highly experienced mid-level providers, a pharmacist, a care coordinator and social worker to promote interdisciplinary education.

The inpatient service allows for interactions with faculty and specialist colleagues and great opportunities for hands-on experiences.

In the night float service, residents have opportunity for greater autonomy, though still under supervision. Residents complete admissions, staff deliveries and cover acute issues overnight for adults admitted to the family medicine service. There is no other scheduled “call” in the residency.

Residents provide routine care to well and ill children in their continuity clinics. A dedicated one-month rotation at the Department of Family and Community Medicine’s downtown Harrisburg clinic provides additional training opportunities for residents to care for children primarily from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background.

Elective rotations are opportunities for residents to supplement their education in specific areas of interest. Each resident is given an average of three elective rotations over the course of their residency. In the past, residents have chosen to pursue the following:

Structured electives:

• Academic career development (requires some development by resident)
• Addiction medicine
• Allergy/immunology, adult
• Cardiology inpatient consults
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology
• FCM OB Nights
• Gastroenterology
• LGBTQ-HIV
• Nephrology
• Neurology
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Palliative care
• Rheumatology
• Sports medicine
• Urology

Custom electives:

• Global health
• ICU elective
• Infectious disease
• Life event
• Procedures
• Rural medicine
• Subspecialty pediatrics
• Wilderness Medicine

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s emergency department is a nationally recognized Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center and is able to provide comprehensive emergency care to patients of all ages. Residents enhance differential diagnosis abilities and learn to manage problems acutely while also coordinating care with specialist providers while learning to manage a broad array of acute illness.

Although residents provide care to older patients in their continuity clinics, the program also makes sure that residents have additional, specific education in caring for older adults. Residents round at local nursing homes, perform outpatient geriatric consultations, and work at a local Veterans Administration hospital and Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital while under the supervision of an experienced geriatrician to learn to care for these patients in various settings.

Residents provide care to patients with gynecological concerns within their continuity clinics. They also rotate on a gynecology outpatient service, where residents take on the role of a gynecology resident, learning gynecological skills and procedures as taught by experienced OB/GYNs who are dedicated to resident education. Residents learn skills in endometrial biopsy, IUD placement, cervical biopsy and gain proficiency in normal and abnormal gynecological examinations and pelvic exams, pap smears, breast exam, colposcopy and endometrial procedures.

Penn State Health Children’s Hospital provides an excellent setting for family medicine resident education as residents are embedded within the team of residents on the pediatric service,

They take care of children with common pediatric illnesses such as asthma, bronchiolitis, gastroenteritis, appendicitis and febrile seizures, as well as those with less common pathologies unique to children. Residents benefit from daily inpatient teaching rounds with the attending physicians, morning topic presentations and discussions and admissions from the emergency department. Weekly grand rounds cover various areas of interest in pediatrics to supplement the hands-on learning.

There are some topics in family medicine that are best taught in a longitudinal format – in small “doses” over several years, rather than in a one-month rotation and then never again. Recognizing this, the program has developed a progressive approach to scheduling that facilitates teaching in this longitudinal manner.

During “longitudinal” months, residents spend time learning Behavioral Health, Population Health, and Health Systems Management. They also spend a relatively greater time taking care of their patients in their continuity clinic during these months.

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s Medical Intermediate Care Unit provides care for patients with higher acuity conditions than can be managed on general wards.

Examples of common conditions treated in the unit include acute GI bleed; diabetic ketoacidosis; atrial fibrillation with RVR; and hypoxic respiratory failure. It is a closed unit overseen by the Department of Medicine.

Family medicine residents are embedded in a team of internal medicine residents and benefit from daily inpatient teaching rounds with the attending physicians and complete admissions from the emergency department. This rotation serves to meet the residency’s intensive care experience requirement.

In Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s newborn nursery, residents provide care to neonates alongside pediatric resident colleagues and are taught by pediatric attending physicians.

Here, residents learn to identify and treat common newborn illnesses, hone their newborn examination skills and learn to manage fever, rashes, hip dysplasia and antibiotics, while also learning how to effectively communicate with families about caring for their new child.

While not an obstetrics-intensive program, all program residents gain a basic competency in understanding and providing basic obstetrical care to their patients.

As such, family medicine residents are an integral part of the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center obstetrics team, participating in rounding and performing deliveries, triages and postpartum care alongside obstetrician resident colleagues.

Supervision and education are by obstetricians/gynecologists as well as family medicine faculty. The focus is on improving basic and advanced skills in obstetric triages and deliveries with additional exposure to maternal-fetal medicine. Residents also provide care for neonates on the service.

Residents deliver prenatal patients with whom they have provided care throughout their pregnancy in their continuity clinics, and pregnant patients are also referred by a local crisis pregnancy center. Faculty-led prenatal chart reviews round out the educational experience in obstetrics.

The clinical diversity provided by the obstetrical service allows for experiences in complicated deliveries, which may not be typically seen in a community setting.

Residents benefit from Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s expertise in the care of children with complicated needs while on the pediatric subspecialty rotation. With experiences in pediatric allergy/asthma, family medicine residents pick up skills for helping children in their future practices.

Residents work with the developmental pediatrics interdisciplinary team. They work closely with pediatric residents and attending physicians and psychologists to gain a better understanding of typical and atypical pediatric development. There is a strong emphasis on health maintenance and preventative care in addition to the overlap between medical and psychosocial issues that this patient population frequently encounters.

As a particular strength of the program, all residents complete a one-month sports medicine rotation in both their first and their third year. On these rotations, residents learn from fellowship-trained primary care sports medicine faculty members, in addition to working with orthopaedic surgeons who are involved in primary care sports medicine. Residents master essential skills in musculoskeletal care as well as dermatology, concussion care and other conditions essential to the knowledge base of any family physician. They gain an appreciation for their clinical collaborators in sports medicine through dedicated experiences in physical therapy, podiatry and orthotics, among others.

Training is provided by the fellowship-trained family physician faculty and the orthopaedic faculty members who make up the Primary Care Sports Medicine team. There are plenty of opportunities to work with athletes, game coverage and didactic sessions with medical students to teach different aspects of sports medicine, including the musculoskeletal exam and joint injections. Residents will work alongside a physical therapist once a week to see how different modalities are used to treat such injuries. Residents also have the opportunity to participate in Sports Medicine Journal Club to discuss interesting and debated topics as well as learn to clinically appraise research articles.

Interested residents have plenty of other opportunities to engage in sports medicine training in the program, including the option to engage in a sports medicine area of concentration. Highly motivated residents are encouraged to work closely with Sports Medicine faculty to do research, develop a professional portfolio, provide care at the local high schools and colleges, and even work with the local professional sports teams where faculty members are team physicians.

Several residents have served as team physicians for local high schools and have successfully matched into competitive sports medicine fellowships.

As a strong academic department, the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Penn State Health/Penn State College of Medicine offers an academic medicine area of concentration to allow students with an interest in academic medicine an opportunity to further hone their academic skills, including teaching and scholarship.

Family physicians are often on the front lines of caring for vulnerable and marginalized populations with limited access to care.

The care of marginalized populations area of concentration is specifically intended for residents who wish to deepen their experience, knowledge and skills during residency training in working with medically underserved populations. Emphasis will be placed on advocacy, cultural awareness, stigma reduction and integration of community resources for residents who wish to work with marginalized populations in both urban and rural underserved areas, where access to care can be particularly challenging.

Residents may specifically focus within this area of concentration on working with people who identify as LGBTQIA+, people affected by addiction, people living with HIV or a combination of these populations.

Goals

Residents upon completion of this AOC will:

• Develop advanced skills in geriatrics and develop a portfolio that can be utilized for fellowship.
• Exceed core residency requirements in the area of geriatrics in order to deepen understanding of the unique challenges presented in caring for older adults.
• Through the scholarly activity, explore an area of interest in geriatrics and contribute to the base of scholarly work in this area.

Learning Objectives

After active participation in this AOC, residents will be able to:

• Develop skills to effectively care for older adults in the hospital, nursing home and outpatient clinical settings.
• Pursue scholarly activity in the area of geriatrics.
• Enhance skills in recognizing and managing geriatric syndromes or conditions such as late-life depression, delirium, incontinence, dementia, dizziness, falls, spontaneous bone fractures, frailty, and neglect and abuse.
• Demonstrate basic proficiency in the 5Ms minimum competencies in geriatrics and the delivery of age-friendly care across settings.

Expectations

• Develop personalized learning goals and objectives.
• Select at least one faculty mentor for the AOC with a plan for communication regarding progress and fulfillment of expectations.
• Complete at least three home visits of an older adult patient on the resident’s continuity panel.
• Regularly attend and participate in the monthly HMC Geriatric CME conference series as detailed below.
• Critically appraise and present at least one journal club article related to Geriatric Medicine.
• Design and complete a scholarly project relevant to the care of older adults (original research, clinical/educational quality improvement project, case study or systematic review) and present the project within the residency and/or at another appropriate local, regional or national forum.
• Attend at least one national geriatric CME conference such as AGS.
• Quality outcomes should be demonstrated and documented with case logs, reflections as indicated below, and faculty reviews of resident competency.

This family medicine area of concentration in global health provides family medicine residents at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center the opportunity to explore and engage in global health during residency. This is accomplished through domestic and international experiences, along with participation in journal clubs, scholarly projects and self-directed learning. By completing the requirements of the global health area of concentration, residents will exceed core requirements during residency and develop a foundation in global health in preparation for their future careers.

Goals and Objectives

This concentration ideally positions the participating resident as a strong candidate for a global health fellowship training program or better equip the interested resident to provide culturally competent health care in an underserved setting. Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center residents pursuing the area of concentration in global health can utilize this program to
develop strong working and mentoring relationships with knowledgeable and enthusiastic faculty members.

The concentration in global health offers:

Longitudinal Global Health Curriculum

The curriculum can be tailored to a resident’s specific interests in global health and will:

• Enhance the resident’s understanding of core concepts in global health.
• Offer a longitudinal global health curriculum that also allows for individualized learning tailored to a resident’s specific interests.
• Help facilitate the attendance at least one regional or national global health CME conference.

Mentoring

The area of concentration in global health allows personal mentoring that will:

• Provide longitudinal mentoring by global health faculty.
• Assist in selecting elective global health rotations.
• Provide guidance in the development of scholarly activity.
• Facilitate and encourage the resident’s integration of global health into future practice.

Scholarly Activity

The area of concentration facilitates scholarly activity in global health and will:

• Afford involvement in small group discussion meetings and facilitation of
  global health journal club.
• Involve presentations and scholarly works at the institutional, regional and or
  national level.

Clinical Experience

The area of concentration in global health allows exceptional clinical opportunities that will:

• Help develop adequate skills to effectively care for vulnerable populations,
  both domestically and internationally.
• Provide experience caring for domestic underserved populations.
• Allow for the application of learned global health skills through an international elective.

Family physicians can play a key role in the care of hospitalized, acutely ill patients, particularly in underserved areas.

Inpatient medicine is a cornerstone of family medicine training, and many family physicians continue to practice in this area after graduation. Unfortunately, the Society of Hospital Medicine has noted instances of employment discrimination for hospitalists trained in family medicine (HTFM) compared to internists. The Penn State Health Family Medicine Residency is committed to providing high-quality training for residents and inpatient medicine and to supporting residents wishing to continue practicing inpatient medicine post-graduation.

The hospital medicine area of concentration is aimed at developing enhanced skills not just in clinical medicine, but also in leadership skills applicable to inpatient practice.

Goals

Upon completion of this concentration, residents will:

• Exceed core residency requirements in the area of hospital medicine, specifically in the areas of
  • patient care (through expanded clinical exposure and rotations);
  • systems-based practices (through increased involvement in quality improvement and medical group systems administration); and
  • professionalism (through increased interprofessional interactions and hospital administration and leadership).
• Develop an expanded portfolio of skills applicable to inpatient medicine to support future credentialing.
• Increase exposure to high-acuity inpatient medicine and inpatient procedures.

Learning Objectives

After active participation in this area of concentration, residents will be able to:

• Develop adequate skills to effectively care for patients with clinical conditions designated by the Society of Hospital Medicine (Core Competencies in Hospital Medicine, 2017 revision, Section 1: Clinical Conditions) as core competencies, specifically:
  • Acute coronary syndrome
  • Acute kidney injury
  • Alcohol and drug withdrawal
  • Asthma
  • Cardiac arrhythmia
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Community-acquired pneumonia
  • Delirium and dementia
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Gastrointestinal bleeding
  • Heart failure
  • Hospital-acquired pneumonia
  • Hyponatremia
  • Pain management
  • Perioperative medicine
  • Sepsis syndrome
  • Skin and soft tissue infections
  • Stroke
  • Syncope
  • Urinary tract infection
  • Venous thromboembolism
• Develop adequate skills in health care systems concepts applicable to inpatient medicine as designated by the Society of Hospital Medicine (Core Competencies in Hospital Medicine, 2017 revision), specifically:
  • Care of the older patient
  • Care of vulnerable populations
  • Communication
  • Diagnostic decision-making
  • Drug safety, pharmacoeconomics and pharmacoepidemiology
  • Equitable allocation of resources
  • Evidence-based medicine
  • Hospitalist as educator
  • Information management
  • Leadership
  • Management practices
  • Medical consultation and co-management
  • Nutrition and the hospitalized patient
  • Palliative care
  • Patient education
  • Patient handoff
  • Patient safety
  • Practice-based learning and improvement
  • Prevention of health-care-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance
  • Professionalism and medical ethics
  • Quality improvement
  • Risk management
  • Team approach to multidisciplinary care
  • Transitions of care
• Enhance inpatient procedure skills in keeping with the recommended inpatient procedural exposures for family medicine residents, specifically:
  • Thoracentesis, recommended volume of exposure 5
  • Paracentesis, 5
  • Central line, 10
  • Arterial line, 5
  • Endotracheal intubation, 10
  • Lumbar puncture, 3
  • Arthrocentesis, 5
  • Arterial puncture, 3

Expectations

Residents are expected to keep a log of area of concentration activities for review with faculty mentor at bi-annual meetings.

Required rotations: Residents in this area of concentration are required to complete the standard inpatient hospital medicine rotations as directed by the ACGME and the residency program. Also required are at least six weeks of electives focused on care of hospitalized patients. Of these, a minimum of two weeks of both medical intensive care unit (MICU) and cardiology consult service are mandatory. At least another two weeks should be completed in a hospital consulting service in any of the following specialties:

• Gastroenterology
• Infectious disease
• Nephrology
• Neurology/stroke consult
• Endocrinology

Additional longitudinal experiences: Participation in at least one hospital committee directly related to inpatient care of patients is required.

Scholarly activity/QI projects: Residents must complete at least one scholarly or quality improvement project related to hospital medicine. This must be completed separately from their other CQTI requirements of residency. Involvement with the U-ACT/QI team for the unit in which family and community medicine patients are cared for is strongly encouraged for this.

CME: Each resident in this area of concentration is expected to attend at least one continuing medical education (CME) conference with a focus on hospital medicine and/or a hospital medicine track. Attendance at fall regional SHM or spring annual national SHM conferences is encouraged.

Conferences/presentations: Each resident in this concentration is strongly encouraged to present scholarly activity at a local, regional or national meeting. Each resident is required to submit at least one abstract for presentation or publication.
In addition, residents in this area are required to present at least two morning reports or the equivalent of four conference presentations (may present four 15-minute, resident-led presentations) on a topic relevant to hospital medicine. At least one presentation must be a review of primary literature.

Timeline

First year

• Enrollment: Meet with concentration directors to clarify expectations and personal learning goals. Request to enroll in the area of concentration by the end of the first year.
• Faculty mentorship: Hold at least one meeting.
• Concentration experiences: N/A
• Year-end milestones to proceed in area of concentration: Identify personal area of concentration goals. Identify a scholarly project. Identify a hospital committee to participate with.

Second year

• Enrollment: Meet with concentration directors in July to review progress. Establish second-year personal learning goals.
• Faculty mentorship: Meet every six months (twice over the year).
• Concentration experiences: Complete at least two weeks of concentration electives. Complete at least one residency conference presentation.
• Year-end milestones to proceed in area of concentration: Demonstrate progress on personal area of concentration goals. Demonstrate progress on scholarly project. Prepare and submit conference proposal for third year.

Third year

• Enrollment: Meet with concentration directors in July to review progress. Establish third-year personal learning goals.
• Faculty mentorship: Meet every six months (twice over the year).
• Concentration experiences: Complete remaining four weeks of concentration electives. Complete remaining conference presentations. Complete scholarly project. Attend national conference.
• Year-end milestones to proceed in area of concentration: Complete all rotation-specific requirements. Complete area of concentration personal goals. Complete scholarly project. Hold final concentration wrap-up meeting.

The leadership and advocacy area of concentration is for residents interested in pursuing leadership roles in health care organizations of various sizes, from the medical director of a small office to higher-level physician leadership in large health care organizations. Through a broad menu of experiences involving advocacy, leadership training and health care management, individual residents can customize their experience to their future career goals in areas such as organized medicine, health policy and advocacy, health administration and clinical quality improvement. For residents who are passionate about leadership and advocacy, this curriculum provides the tools to enter with confidence into a lifetime of leading change.

Guiding Principles

• Mentor selected during the first postgraduate year (PGY-1).
• Area of concentration entered at the start of PGY-2.
• No more than two residents at a time.
• Resident is responsible for tracking activities and time spent on each.
• May change specific activities within an area of focus if approved by faculty mentor.

Possible Areas of Focus

• Advocacy for patients and specialty
• Advocacy for vulnerable populations
• Health administration
• Business of medicine
• Patient safety and risk management
• Clinical quality improvement

Related Activities

• All areas of focus
  • Participate in Health Systems Management curriculum
  • Online modules or required reading for independent learning
  • Related scholarly project
  • Attend a related conference
  • Present critical analysis of journal article at all-resident conference
  • Present at HSM breakout sessions
  • Facilitate HSM longitudinal session
  • Reflection – semiannual narrative essay on experiences (3)
  • Reflection – capstone narrative essay describing experiences and impact on self,
    others and future practice
  • Seek students with shared interests and provide mentorship (report total number)
• Advocacy: Patients and specialty
  • Attend three medical staff meetings
  • Work with a local, state, or national medical organization in an administrative capacity – 10 hours
  • Submit resolution to state or national organization
  • Contact legislator regarding issue of choice, may work with lobbyist
  • Leadership role in the student Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG)
  • Provide patient education in a public forum, ideally through the media
• Advocacy: Vulnerable populations
  • Serve on diversity committee (quarterly for 2 years)
  • Volunteer in vulnerable service area
  • Leadership role in vulnerable service area
  • Clinical quality improvement or patient safety project which improves system of care delivery for vulnerable population
  • Submit resolution to state or national organization
  • Contact legislator regarding issue of choice/work with PAFP lobbyist
• Leadership: Health administration
  • Junior medical director: share in majority of leadership activities including running team, faculty and full office meetings
  • Design and implement an administrative initiative within continuity clinic together with office leadership (does not include required quality improvement project)
  • Present administrative initiative at FCM faculty meetings
  • Attend FCM medical directors and office managers meeting
  • Attend HMC medical staff meeting
  • Teach medical students in the Patient Centered Medical Home curriculum
• Leadership: Business of medicine
  • Junior medical director: share in majority of leadership activities including running team, faculty and full office meetings
  • Design and implement an initiative within continuity clinic which generates revenue or decreases expense together with office leadership
  • Present initiative at FCM faculty meetings
  • Attend FCM medical directors and office managers meeting
  • Attend HMC medical staff meeting
  • Teach medical students in the Patient Centered Medical Home curriculum
• Leadership: Patient safety and risk management
  • Design and implement a hospital or continuity clinic-based initiative which improves patient safety or mitigates risk together with office or department leadership
  • Attend FCM medical directors and office managers meeting
  • Attend medical staff meeting
  • Serve on the Patient Safety committee (quarterly for 2 years)
  • Assist FMIG in organizing Law and Medicine series
  • Submit resolution to state or national organization
  • Provide patient education in a public forum, ideally through the media
• Leadership: Clinical quality improvement
  • Attend FCM medical directors and office managers meeting
  • Attend medical staff meeting
  • Serve on Inpatient or Outpatient Quality Improvement committees (monthly, assume 66 percent attendance during PGY-2 and PGY-3)
  • Quality improvement project must merit publication or presentation at a regional or national meeting

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) curriculum is important for family doctors because it equips them with comprehensive training in evidence-based lifestyle interventions, enabling them to address the root causes of chronic diseases rather than merely treating symptoms. By integrating nutrition, physical activity, stress management, sleep, and other lifestyle factors into their practice, family doctors can empower patients to make sustainable lifestyle changes that prevent and even reverse chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. This holistic approach not only improves patient outcomes but also reduces healthcare costs and enhances the overall well-being of communities, aligning with the evolving paradigm of preventive and personalized medicine in primary care.

Goals

Residents upon completion of this AOC will:

• Have advanced skills in recommending evidence-based, lifestyle interventions and develop a portfolio that can be utilized for fellowship/credentialing/future career.
• Exceed core residency requirements in the area of lifestyle medicine.
• Qualify to sit for the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (ABLM) certification exam.

Learning Objectives

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine AOC aims to achieve five key objectives:

1. Comprehensive Training: Provide residents with a thorough understanding of the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine, including nutrition, physical activity, stress management, restorative sleep, social connection, and avoidance of risky substances, ensuring they are well-equipped to integrate these practices into patient care.
2. Evidence-Based Practice: Equip residents with the knowledge and skills to apply evidence-based lifestyle interventions in the prevention and management of chronic diseases, fostering critical thinking and decision-making rooted in scientific research.
3. Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Foster collaboration among healthcare professionals from various disciplines, encouraging teamwork and communication to deliver comprehensive care that addresses the holistic needs of patients.
4. Promotion of Health and Well-being: Empower residents to promote health and well-being in their communities through patient education, advocacy, and community outreach initiatives, fostering a culture of prevention and proactive healthcare.
5. Scholarly Activity: explore an area of interest in lifestyle medicine and contribute to the base of scholarly work in this area.

Expectations

• Develop personalized learning goals and objectives.
• Select at least one faculty mentor for the AOC with a plan for communication regarding progress and fulfillment of expectations
• Complete 40 hours of didactic material through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum (LMRC) learning center
• Complete 60 hours of application activities as prescribed by the LMRC
• Log 400 lifestyle medicine related patient encounters via LMRC log or automatic reports generated from EMR
• Complete 10 hours of therapeutic lifestyle change group experiences such as a diabetes prevention program or cardiac rehab
• Complete 2-4 weeks of elective time related to lifestyle medicine. This time can be used to work on didactic material, application activities, journal club presentations, conference attendance, therapeutic lifestyle change experiences, and scholarly activity
• Critically appraise and present at least one journal club articles related to lifestyle medicine
• Design and complete a scholarly project relevant to lifestyle medicine (original research, clinical/educational quality improvement project, case study, or systematic review) and present the project within the residency and/or at another appropriate local, regional or national forum.
• Attend at least one national lifestyle medicine CME conference (in person or virtual) and present a conference summary lecture
• Quality outcome will include faculty reviews of resident competency in the AOC including direct observation of clinical precepting with learners, direct observation of presentations and scholarly sessions.

The primary care sports medicine area of concentration has been developed to provide education, training and exposure to primary care sports medicine endeavors that surpass the required core education and training during the standard Penn State Health Family Medicine Residency experience. This area of concentration can be pursued by those residents considering fellowship education and training in primary care sports medicine.

Goals and Objectives

The area of concentration in sports medicine gives family medicine residents at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center the opportunity to engage more fully in the primary care sports medicine endeavors that surround them during residency. These opportunities may include additional sports medicine training via event coverage, journal club, sports medicine workshops or scholarly activities, amongst others. By completing the requirements of the sports medicine area of concentration, residents will exceed core requirements during residency, develop a strong foundation in sports medicine in preparation for their future careers and develop a portfolio that can be utilized for fellowship application, future credentialing, etc. The sports medicine area of concentration is individualized to meet the needs of the family medicine resident and their future practice in family medicine.

Specific Aims

• To provide structured and intensive training in musculoskeletal and primary care sports medicine.
• To act as a team physician and provide mass event coverage under the guidance of sports medicine faculty.
• To provide on-site clinical exposure in the assessment and management of acute musculoskeletal injuries.
• To enhance skills in areas such as:
  • Casting and splinting
  • Concussion evaluation and management
  • Joint and soft tissue injections
  • Musculoskeletal radiology/ultrasound
  • Pre-participation physical exams
  • Rehabilitation
• To pursue scholarly activity in sports medicine, such as:
  • Original research
  • Clinical or educational quality improvement (QI) projects
  • Case studies
  • Systematic reviews
• To offer longitudinal didactic sports medicine exposure, such as:
  • Journal clubs
  • Sports medicine conferences
  • Didactic lectures
  • Hands-on workshops
• To receive longitudinal mentoring by sports medicine faculty for:
  • Game and mass event coverage
  • Scholarly activity
  • Assistance in selecting elective rotations in musculoskeletal and sports medicine
  • Membership to professional sports medicine organizations
  • Attendance at national sports medicine CME conferences

Requirements

• Complete the required four-week family medicine residency sports medicine rotation.
• Complete at least one year of longitudinal team physician experience with an area high school sports team.
• Log at least 200 hours of sideline/training room work in primary care sports medicine.
• Participate in medical coverage of at least three mass participation sporting events (Hershey Half Marathon, Tussey Mountain Ultramarathon, District 3 and/or PIAA championship events, etc.).
• Regularly attend and participate in sports medicine conferences.
• Critically appraise and present at least six journal club articles related to sports medicine.
• Design and complete a scholarly project relevant to sports medicine (original research, clinical/educational quality improvement project, case study or systematic review) and present the project within the residency and/or at another appropriate local, regional or national forum.
• Attend at least one national sports medicine CME conference such as American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) or American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and/or an Advanced Team Physician Course.

As highlighted by the International Council on Women’s Health Issues, the care of women has direct implications on the health of the nation.

Women receive a large portion of their health care from primary care providers; however, the percentage of these physicians addressing their gender-specific health needs is declining. The women’s health area of concentration is designed to provide interested Family and Community Medicine Residency trainees with expanded experiences on health issues unique to women, more common in women or that manifest differently in women.

The program leverages the collaborative relationships built with various specialties caring for women at various stages of their reproductive life and offers an opportunity for improved clinical practice and opportunities for mentorship and research.

This area of concentration provides additional exposure to gynecologic, obstetrical and neonatal care, as well as additional experience in procedures including colposcopy.

Through participation in this area of concentration, the program hopes to promote an interest in women’s health care in future practice.

Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center accept ongoing nominations for the Exceptional Moments in Teaching award.

The award, given monthly by the Office for a Respectful Learning Environment, accepts nominations from College of Medicine students who are invited to submit narratives about faculty members, residents, fellows, nurses or any other educators who challenge them and provide an exceptional learning experience. See more about the award here.

Previous nominees from the Family and Community Medicine Residency (Hershey, Pa.) are listed here. Click the + next to a nominee name to read their nominator’s comments.

The annual Resident/Fellow Research Day is held each year (with exception of during the COVID-19 pandemic) on and around the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center campus.

The intent of the event is to provide an opportunity for residents and fellows to showcase their research accomplishments to their peers in other clinical departments, as well as their colleagues in the basic sciences.

Learn more about Resident/Fellow Research Day here.

Previous presentations from the Family and Community Medicine Residency (Hershey, Pa.) are listed here.