Meet the Resident: Sean Spangler, DO

Get to know Sean Spangler, DO, internal medicine resident.

Career goal: Most likely hospital medicine, but ultimately any role that will allow me to teach and work with residents and medical students. 

It’s been really nice to come home for residency and be inherently familiar with the areas where our patients live and work. 

What makes your Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) training program different from others across the country?

As internal medicine (IM) residents at LVHN we get experience caring for patients with complex and high-acuity conditions from the first day of intern year. I know from talking with friends in other IM residencies that we get a ton of medical and cardiac ICU exposure as LHVN interns. I think this prepares us to handle anything and get comfortable with acute problems and sometimes intense situations from the beginning of residency. 

What has been the most extraordinary part of your training experience so far?

The opportunity to learn, train and take care of patients in the area where I grew up. It's been really nice to come home for residency and be inherently familiar with the areas where our patients live and work. 

What is one memory you have from your training so far that will stick with you for your career?

I will never forget a patient I saw while on med-triage nights during the second month of my intern year. This was the first time I had ever seen a patient’s condition deteriorate over the span of a few hours, and I successfully recognized when to get help and escalate her level of care. 

What is one piece of advice you would share with someone as they select a training program?

I have two pieces of advice:

1. Prioritize a training program that is close to your support system – as in, no more than a two-hour drive away from home.
2. Pay attention to your gut, intuition, “vibes,” etc., during interviews or sub-rotations. The good or bad feeling you get and how well you feel like you fit in with a program are extremely telling of how you may feel there as a resident.

What does it mean to be a resident at LVHN?

Being a resident at LVHN means becoming very familiar with managing common, often chronic conditions and presentations while also seeing a wide variety of pathologies. It means training in a large, well-resourced hospital while feeling that you have a place in the community for which you are providing care.