Penn State Interview Recap

Hospital: Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital
Number of Beds: 136
Number of Peds Residents (per year): 14
Affiliated University: Penn State University
Location: Hershey, Pennsylvania
Interview Date: 12/10

The day started with morning conference with the residents followed by a overview of the residency program.  Next, I had two twenty minute interviews with two faculty members.  Later, we went to the resident's noon conference and ate lunch during the lecture.  Attending two lectures during the day seemed excessive though they were well done.  After lunch we were able to tour the brand new children's hospital scheduled to open next month.  We were done for the day around 2:30pm.

The new lobby - which is supposed to look like a tree house

Both interviews were very relaxed and neither interviewer asked me any tough questions.  We mostly just talked about the program and the area.  Both of my interviewers were specialists, so they weren't able to talk to me much about primary care opportunities in the area.  I didn't feel as though I connected extremely well with either interviewer, but they went well.

A courtyard between the adult hospital and the new children's hospital next to the cafeteria

Things I liked about the program:

• The curriculum is extremely flexible.  I have not seen another program that is as willing to accommodate resident's desires.  They allow residents to trade ICU months for primary care months and many other switches and electives.  Because they don't have many inpatient teams that need coverage from the residents, they are able to offer the residents many other opportunities.  Because of this flexibility, I would be able to tailor my education more towards primary care experiences if I wanted.
• They have a brand new children's hospital opening next month.  The facilities are gorgeous and are very patient and family focused.
• The emergency department is a level one trauma center, which implies that they have an all-inclusive emergency department.  They also have a top level NICU.
• Despite being a relatively smaller children's hospital, they are still able to offer a full range of services and sub-specialties for patient care.
• For resident clinic hours, there are three choices that serve very different patient populations.  While they don't have a lot of options close to the hospital, they are able to offer very diverse experiences.
• There are many unique opportunities such as children's camps and a boarding school in town that allow residents to be medical providers in unique settings.

One of the new PICU rooms

Things I didn't like about the program:

• The hospital is relatively smaller than many others that I've visited.  I'm not sure if the patient load would be large enough for me to see as many patients and conditions as I would be able to elsewhere.
• Because of the smaller patient census, inpatient teams are not divided by specialties.  The mix of patients could be quite disjointed.
• There is not a pediatric emergency department.  They use one hallway of the adult ED, but even that hallway is not always exclusively pediatrics.
• As with the ED, there seems to be a tight integration with the adult hospital that is attached.  I prefer a more stand alone pediatric setting where all providers for the kids are specifically pediatric trained.
• The EMR used is Cerner.

A rooftop patio off the lobby of a patient floor

Things I liked about the location:

• The more rural setting provides some beautiful views and outdoor environments.
• The cost of living is extremely low in Hershey and there is cheap, nice housing within walking distance of the hospital - which is never an option in hospitals located in larger cities.
• Hershey is somewhat in the middle of nowhere but is within a short trip (1.5-3hrs) from multiple ski resorts, DC, NYC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.  Harrisburg (the state capital) is only 15 minutes west.

Hershey is obviously known for its chocolate

Things I didn't like about the location:

• Because Hershey is in the middle of rural PA, there isn't much to do in town.  You can only tour the chocolate factory so many times.
• Hershey can very much be a tourist town with Chocolate World and Hershey Park.  I think living in a mainly tourist town could get frustrating.
• Hershey is at least a 5 hour drive from home and it wouldn't be an easy drive if the weather was bad.
• With Hershey being a small town and Harrisburg being an economically struggling town, I don't think there would be many opportunities for jobs.

Hershey Park - an amusement park originally built for families who worked at the Hershey Chocolate Factory

Overall Thoughts:
A good hospital, but it doesn't top my list in any one area.  While I think the area is gorgeous, I do enjoy living in a city with all of the opportunities that come with that.  With the location not being what we're looking for and the hospital not being nearly as good as others I've visited, nothing about this hospital makes me think it would be the best fit for us.  It certainly is a good hospital in a nice location but nothing pushes it towards the top of my list.