Frequently Asked Questions

What are some of the special features of your program?

• Pediatrics—For the person who loves to work with children, The Reading Hospital offers an exceptionally strong pediatrics experience. The residents work with a hospital-based pediatric practice of five pediatricians who practice out of two sites. Residents are involved in all aspects of pediatric care, including newborn nursery, ambulatory, and hospital. In addition, the pediatricians provide lectures on a large variety of topics in our morning report series and noon lecture series.
  
• Sports Medicine—One of the highlights of our program, sports medicine has received a special emphasis, with residents taking an important leadership role. In addition to working closely with local family medicine/sports medicine faculty, the residents work with one of our graduates Dr. Tom Kohl, who provides a core lecture series covering foundations of sports medicine as well as numerous procedure clinics. This experience is integrated into extensive experience with the local high school teams, both at games as well in the training rooms. Research in several areas by both the residents and Dr. Kohl is ongoing and has resulted in publication in several national sports medicine journals.
  
• Obstetrics Care—As a resident you will work closely with both the a full-time family medicine faculty who performs obstetric care and a board-certified obstetrician. Unlike other residencies, obstetrics is not a major emphasis of our program, but we are fortunate to be working in a hospital where, due to the large OB volume, there is no competition for obstetrical deliveries with the OB-Gyn residency. This has allowed a tremendous amount of flexibility in providing all the residents with the required experience in obstetrics and at the same time allowing those who desire more experience to get the training they need.
  
• Size—We believe that a resident class of six is ideal. You are not overwhelmed with work as you might be at a smaller program but are also not just a number, as you might be at a larger program. You have opportunity to get to know your faculty well and receive a lot of one-on-one teaching and mentoring.
  
• Variety—The number of different things that you are exposed to as a resident is amazing. In addition to the traditional outpatient and inpatient rotations, our residents become part of the local community, acting as college physicians on the Penn State Berks and Alvernia University campuses and acting as team physicians for several local high schools.
  
• Experienced Faculty—Our program has the second most-experienced program director in the state of Pennsylvania, an associate director with three years of experience as an associate director and an FP/OB faculty with teaching and clinical experience.

What are typical night call responsibilities?

In the internship year, call averages one in five to six nights, and in the second and third years it averages every 10 to 12 nights. Call responsibilities are limited to service patients and involve ECU evaluations and admission of pediatric patients and adults. Floor calls are limited. One can expect a reasonable mix of education, experience and sleep during night call. The 80 hour work regulations are closely monitored.

What procedural skills can I develop?

The program offers multiple opportunities for laceration repair and other suturing, skin biopsy, curettage, cryotherapy, endometrial pipelle, nasolaryngoscopy, nail removal, casting, lumbar puncture, IUD placement, colposcopy and biopsy, arthrocentesis, and others. There are monthly hands-on procedure workshops.

Where would I see my patients?

The Family Health Care Center (FHCC as it is commonly called) is directly adjacent to the hospital. It is a 7,000 square-foot facility with 13 exam rooms, two of which are video equipped; a procedure room, a conference room which seats 40, a kitchen, faculty offices and a resident work room.

Doesn’t being at a hospital with other residencies limit your experience?

No, actually, here it is a positive. We have more flexibility of training experience because the work of covering patients is distributed with medicine, transitional year, and obstetrics residents. The Reading Hospital ranks within the top five for patient volume in Pennsylvania and offers an incredible experience for all—there is no competition for interesting patients. This lack of turf wars that are so common at other centers creates a great collaborative working relationship with other residents. Pooling residency resources broadens the educational experience by allowing residents to join the other residencies for core lecture series and grand rounds and by attracting nationally known speakers to the hospital.

You can also Email us if you have a specific question that you would like us to answer.