1/27 Geisinger Medical Center

Internship Site: Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, PA otherwise known as the middle of nowhere)

Major Rotations: General Child and Pediatric Psychology
Special Stuff: Focus on research looking at how well different therapies work in the real world, Preschool evaluations & Head Start consultation, specialized clinics for different mental health disorders.
Downsides: More heavily child clinical and less peds, lots of behavior disorders, a majority of outpatient therapy experiences, minimal flexibility in schedule/activities, location.

I had actually interviewed at Geisinger last year and liked the program so I applied again this year. One of the initial downsides of Geisinger is it's location. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. The hospital is the majority of the city and the surrounding area is tiny. I stayed at the Pine Barn Inn the night before the interview which is a small little hotel right next to the hospital (pictured). This was the only interview where they covered any sort of travel expense - they paid for one night in a hotel which was really cool. 

The interview day consisted of three half hour interviews and lunch with the current interns. This was actually a very easy interview day as I had interviewed last year with two of the three faculty members I was interviewing with this year. Both of them were very kind and empathized with my not matching next year and just wanted to know what I had been doing since last year. I enjoyed the sympathy :) 

The program consists of three 4 month rotations in addition to year-long experiences. There are lots of experiences for group work, including group therapy for adolescents, obesity, and disruptive behaviors. In addition, there are a couple of clinics that focus on specific disorders: the Anxiety Disorders Clinic, Adolescent Depression Clinic, and the Step Up Clinic which is basically a clinic for kids who wet themselves at night or during the day. I like this model because it really allows you to focus on a single disorder and how you might evaluate and treat the disorder. Sometimes I feel as though we are so busy with so many different disorders that you never really have time to focus on one at a time. There is also a peds oncology service which is new from last year. Interns are required to work in adult emergency services as well for one full day a week during one four month rotation. This would be an area I am least experienced in as I really have not worked much with adults at all. 

Now, the internship does have primary care work but its very minimal. For six months interns go to a pediatrician primary care site for 2 days each month. Interns also spend time working on-call in the consultation-liaison service which is available for physicians should they need a psychologist. My understanding of this is that referrals are more limited to certain types of disorders in kids and that the adult consultations are much more varied and interesting. There is a pediatric neuropsychologist that is one of the supervisors at the internship. There is minimal hard-core neuropsych testing, however. The faculty member does, however, work with kids with traumatic brain injury and uses a program for kids with concussions that I am using this year in D.C. 

This internship is definitely one I would be happy at, and would provide at least the basic experiences I am looking for. I am not sure it would totally prepare me for a neuropsychology post-doc, or provide much primary care experience. It is also unclear as to what experiences I might have with advocacy/program evaluation. Research is not a large component of the program, although this is true with most of the internships. One cool thing is that the interns get to wear the "white jackets" that doctors usually wear and are called "residents" just like they are medical residents. It's amazing how much more respect you command when wearing the white jacket! 

A final note about the location - the scenery itself is pretty beautiful. The hospital is actually set atop a hill with gorgeous views. The town also lies next to a decently big river which is cool too. Also, the cost of living is close to nothing (especially compared with DC!). People have apparently rented whole houses on an intern salary. That's pretty good!