Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
This community’s medical college
Year 1
Caring for the community There’s a space in medicine where encyclopedic scientific knowledge and finely tuned clinical skills can’t reach. It’s the space where a physician connects with patients, beyond their collection of signs and symptoms — on a human level, where true communication occurs. As medicine’s technological complexity increases, so does the need for practitioners who effortlessly inhabit this infinitely more fundamental space. At Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, we call that space caring. And, along with mastery of medical knowledge and clinical skills, it forms the basis of our MD curriculum.
It begins with a focus on the student Geisinger Commonwealth’s medical education blends tradition with invention. Our curriculum honors the century-old mandate that students gain experience and expertise in basic and clinical science, but it also capitalizes on the learning advantages inherent in being part of a dynamic, fully integrated health system that sets the standard for medicine’s new focus on improving outcomes through initiatives in population health and the novel use of technology. All of this begins, however, with the student. Throughout their four years at Geisinger Commonwealth, students engage in professional identity formation that asks them to look within and begin to build a core of values and priorities. This core is something students can rely on to replenish their mental and spiritual reserves, and something that will keep them connected to their ideals when the strenuous pace of medical education — and later medical practice — can seem overwhelming. Throughout their time at Geisinger Commonwealth, through a variety of assignments and experiences, medical students are continually challenged to envision and to plan for not just what kind of doctor they want to be, but also what kind of person.
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