FAQs | Geisinger Med Peds

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?

Danville and the surrounding communities offer residents ample supply of high-quality, safe and affordable housing.
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.
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).
Most of us who live in Danville can even live close enough to the hospital to walk or bike to work everyday!
For those driving, it's typically only a 5-10 minute drive (maximum).
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).

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.
Visit Hershey Park for the day or stop at the Tannersville Premium Outlets.
Variety of options for outdoor recreation including hiking, kayaking, biking, fishing, skiing and more!
Don’t miss the Bloomsburg Fair, an East Coast tradition.
Reach New York City/Washington D.C. in around 3 hours or Pittsburgh in 3.5 hours.
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.

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.
The people! Create and cultivate a family atmosphere between residents - inclusive, supportive. This is a very important part of how we choose applicants.
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.

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.
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.).
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).

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!
Some patients will drive up to 2-3 hours to receive care at Geisinger.
Not only do you see "bread and butter" Medicine and Pediatric cases but also rare and interesting cases.
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.

There is no shortage of support within our program leadership.
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.
Monthly meetings with the associate program directors (APDs) to serve as "check points" in wellness, education, mentorship
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.
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.

Absolutely!!
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
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.
Another benefit is the EHR is integrated between both hospitals and even outpatient clinics.

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.
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.
On the Medicine and Pediatrics sides, there are outstanding fellowship match rates.
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.