Program Description

The Hospital

Pennsylvania Hospital Radiology
 

Chair
J. Bruce Kneeland, MD

Program Director
Michael B. Love, MD

Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital, is a 515-bed acute care facility that provides a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic medical services and functions as a major teaching and clinical research institution. The hospital was founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond to care for "the sick-poor and insane of Philadelphia." For more than 250 years the hospital has been located at the same site - at 8th and Spruce Streets in the historic Society Hill district of Philadelphia. The hospital is now known for its general and specialty services, including:

• orthopaedics
• vascular medicine/surgery
• neurosurgery
• otorhinolaryngology (ENT)
• urology
• obstetrics program -- especially high-risk maternal and fetal services
• neonatology
• behavioral health

Pennsylvania Hospital also has expanding programs for cancer, cardiac care, gamma knife radiosurgery, and bloodless medicine and surgery. The hospital has over 29,000 inpatient admissions and 115,000 outpatient visits each year, including over 5,200 births.

The Department

The Department of Radiology is a full-service department with a full complement of imaging services in all areas. Extensive renovations completed during 2007-2008 have given the department many new facilities and a beautiful modern appearance. We have the full array of radiographic and fluoroscopic equipment, all nuclear imaging capabilities, 2 multislice CT scanners, a PET/CT scanner, 2 interventional suites, 6 sonography and 3 MRI units. Our Women's Imaging Center provides digital mammography, breast ultrasound, DEXA scanning, biopsies (both stereotactic and ultrasound guided) and breast MRI. We are fully computerized, and our PACS and voice recognition dictation systems are being upgraded during Fall 2009.

The Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program

The Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program is a four-year program and provides all requirements for certification by the American Board of Radiology. The program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Our program is currently expanding; each incoming group consists of five residents, and we will reach our new total resident census of 20 in July 2011. Prior to matriculation, each resident must have completed a year of clinical graduate medical education in a program acceptable to the American Council for Graduate Medical Education and the American Board of Radiology. We have no fellows in the department, as our objective is to concentrate exclusively on the education and welfare of our residents.

Pennsylvania Hospital is historically related to the University of Pennsylvania and is a member of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. All faculty members in the Department of Radiology at Pennsylvania Hospital have academic appointments in the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

The Department of Radiology at Pennsylvania Hospital and its residency operate independently with all administrative and operational management at Pennsylvania Hospital. Being a component of the University of Pennsylvania Health System does offer our department the ability to share some faculty and provide our residents with some core rotations, elective rotations, and research opportunities at our sister institution, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Resident reading a case

We provide a comprehensive orientation program to optimally begin each entering resident's experience. Clinical rotations are provided in all areas of radiology under the supervision of fully subspecialized faculty with long-standing interest and experience in teaching residents. We offer a full academic program. Two conferences are held daily in our new Radiology Conference Room and cover all areas of diagnostic radiology through a comprehensive curriculum. Residents prepare cases and topics for presentation at our weekly Case Conference, which is attended by all residents and staff. The department participates in several regular interdisciplinary conferences with active resident participation. There is a very successful Visiting Professor program. Our Non-Imaging Curriculum provides instruction in various topics including ethics, business, personal finance and national issues affecting patient care.

Residents learn pediatric radiology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and attend the Radiologic Pathology course at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, DC, for which they are currently supported for tuition and lodging. Full physics instruction is provided. Resident education is supported by a large intradepartmental library and abundant internet access. The department also purchases subscriptions to provide residents with individual on-line access to several learning tools, such as StatDx and the ACR Learning File.

Residents are encouraged to participate in research projects and scholarly activities. Financial support is provided to permit residents to present their research at national radiological meetings. Residents are also supported to attend one national meeting or course during the residency, typically in the last year.

Residents share on-call responsibilities in an equitable manner. We instituted a night float system in July 2009, and our early experience has been very positive. Junior residents spend time with senior residents to gain needed experience before assuming full call responsibility. The call resident always has full back-up by attending staff for image interpretation and procedure supervision.

Pine Street,
Philadelphia

The Society Hill district of Philadelphia is a beautiful and safe residential area. Residents can readily afford near-by housing, and many choose to live within walking distance, avoiding a commute (especially beneficial when one is tired post-call) and providing them the opportunity to conveniently partake in the historical, cultural and vibrant life of our city. Many of our staff also live near the hospital. Alternatively, since there is convenient highway and public transportation access to the hospital, residents may choose to live elsewhere in the city or its surrounding suburbs.

We could go on and on and yet fail to convey all the advantages of training at our institution. We hope we have answered many of your initial questions and encourage you to contact us if we have not. We urge you to consider joining our program and look forward to receiving your application.

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