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Milwaukee (MKE) Residency Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin

The MCW-MKE Psychiatry Residency program is a long-established program in the fantastic city of Milwaukee. We have a unique curriculum that we believe maximizes the breadth and depth of experiences. The MKE psychiatry program is home to all of the available ACGME fellowships, including Addiction Psychiatry, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry.

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Combined Internal Medicine/Psychiatry Program

Combined IM/Psychiatry residents are dual citizens, splitting their time between both categorical programs, distilling seven years of training into five years by capitalizing on the clinical skills that overlap both disciplines. Combined residents participate in rotations and didactics of the sponsoring categorical programs as well as develop new rotations and experiences in integrated care.
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Program Overview

Different than most programs that offer ambulatory psychiatry in the PGY 3 year, our outpatient clinic begins in second year of training with continuing psychotherapy clinics throughout the rest of residency.

This unique curriculum allows residents to have continuity with patients for several years. It also allows residents to build on the knowledge, skills and perspective learned in outpatient psychiatry when they return to the inpatient, emergency and consultation liaison settings in the third year, enhancing the PGY 3 experience. Third year inpatient rotations add the dimension of group psychotherapy, while fourth year is rounded out with neurology, integrated care, psychotherapy and electives.

Our program is fortunate to work with multiple health systems in the Milwaukee area to give residents an experience in a diverse range of settings – from a VA hospital to private psychiatric hospitals to an academic medical center. Residents rotate at the new Mental Health Emergency Center (MHEC) – a busy psychiatric emergency room opened in 2022 as a joint venture between Milwaukee County and four local health systems to serve residents of the state’s most populated county. Second year residents spend half of their time in our free-standing psychotherapy center where they learn supportive psychotherapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Consultation-liaison (CL) psychiatry is another area of strength with residents doing five months of CL, including one at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Fourth year residents carry on their CL experience in the outpatient setting, serving as consultants in one of our integrated care clinics. The consultation clinics span the range of integrated care, from co-located care in the Perinatal Clinic to a public health approach with care coordinators in several of our Primary Care Clinics.

I specifically ranked this program as #1 over several Ivy League programs because MCW Psychiatry is about learning and takes a very holistic approach to fostering its learners which shows in every aspect of the program and the opportunities we receive.

A "Day in the Life"

Read firsthand experiences about a day in the life of our residents during each level of training.
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PGY 1: Morgan Barnett, DO

My name is Morgan and I’m a PGY-1 at the MCW-Milwaukee campus. I just completed my first rotation of intern year on inpatient psychiatry at Aurora Behavioral Health. Here is what a typical day looks like on this rotation!

6:45 a.m.: I wake up (sometimes). Most times I snooze my alarm once or twice!

7 a.m.: I *actually* wake up. I wear scrubs to the campus, so I don’t need to spend much time thinking about what to wear. On my way out the door, I water my vegetable garden and sometimes harvest some peppers or lettuce. Once a week, I take my sourdough starter out of the fridge to feed it when I get home from work.

8 a.m.: I arrive at the unit. I print my patient list and log on to chart review my follow up patients and any new admissions. Once I’ve chart reviewed, I go see all of my follow ups in preparation for staffing with the interdisciplinary team meeting.

9:15 a.m.: Team meeting time! The team includes a case manager, social worker, nurse, discharge planner, as well as me and the attending. We discuss all of the patients, spending more time on the ones with more complex psychosocial stressors, and come up with plans for discharge.

9:30 a.m.: I staff my patients with the attending psychiatrist. We do some on the fly teaching as I try to formulate the best plan for each patient.

10 a.m.: I put in new orders, finish my notes on discharges and follow up patients, call collateral if I need to, then chart review my new admissions more thoroughly.

11 a.m.: I see my new admission. New admissions take more time. Sometimes, the attending will watch me interview and give me feedback afterwards. This has been essential for my growth as an intern.

12 p.m.: Teaching hour. I eat an apple and protein bar for lunch as the attending and I talk about whichever topic the medical student and I want to learn about. Sometimes I prepare a small presentation on a journal article and present it as the basis for a conversation.

1 p.m.: I write my note for my new admission and circle back to my patients to discuss any elements of the plan we missed this morning. I also will review my medical student’s notes with them and do a little more teaching. I’ve worked with M3s from the University of Wisconsin all month.

3 p.m.: When the work for the day is done, I head home! Sometimes I’ll stop for groceries on my way. When I get back, I’m greeted by my 2 cats and change out of my scrubs for a work out.

4:30 p.m.: Work out time! I take pure barre classes at the studio down the street from me. I also teach there on weekends that I’m not working! On this rotation, I have not had to work any weekends! Some weekends, my boyfriend will visit from Michigan or I’ll go visit friends in Chicago. After class, I typically go for a little walk and listen to music or a podcast. I often walk to Lake Michigan.

6:30 p.m.: I cook dinner, light candles, talk on the phone with family or friends, and maybe read something for pleasure, review a few pages of Stahl’s, or catch up on Stranger Things. Overall, I get to wind down from the day early and almost always get 8 hours of sleep! I’ve enjoyed hanging out and exploring the area some evenings with the other interns.

PGY 2: Paige Chardavoyne, MD

Welcome to outpatient year where we rotate through three different clinics each week! On Tuesdays, three of my lovely co-residents and I are at CCAPS (short for Clinical Consultation Academic Psychiatry Service), which is a resident-run medication management clinic. I’m excited to share a Tuesday in the life with you!

6:45 a.m.: My alarm goes off and I start getting ready for the day. I have two cats (Hobbes & Truman) who follow me around the house until I feed them.

7:30 - 7:45 a.m.: Arrive at the clinic, check my mailbox, and go to the individual office I’m assigned for the year. Here I’ll eat breakfast and finish up any remaining chart review before I begin seeing patients.

8 – 11 a.m.: See morning patients! In this clinic, there is a camera in each office which provides live video and audio stream to a control room where the chief resident and attending psychiatrist are. It’s a neat way for cases to be supervised while feeling like an independent psychiatrist.

11 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Morning staffing! All new patients (we see up to two new patients for intake per day) are staffed immediately after the interview while the patient is still in the clinic. For follow ups visits, residents have the option to staff in the same manner or staff during this hour. If changes are made to the plan during this time, residents will call patients to update them.

12 – 1 p.m.: Lunch and notes! I pack lunch to eat at the clinic but you have the option to have food delivered or leave the clinic to grab food nearby. This is also a great opportunity to get morning notes done.

1 – 4 p.m.: See afternoon patients! Because there is not an afternoon staffing hour, all cases are staffed immediately after the interview while the patient is still in the clinic. Once I’m done seeing patients, all assessments and plans need to be completed prior to leaving the clinic. Some days I finish my notes prior to leaving and other days I elect to take a break and finish the remainder of my notes at home. I really like having the flexibility to do this and will have all my documentation done by the end of the day.

4 p.m. onward: Leave the clinic and head to the gym! After about 9 years of CrossFit, I decided to specialize on Olympic weightlifting (snatch and clean and jerk). I do this at Milwaukee Barbell. It’s an awesome community that’s led to some great friendships. Once I’m done, I’ll go home, finish notes if needed, and head to bed to get ready for another day.

If you’ve made it through my day, you might be interested to learn about other aspects of PGY-2 year! In terms of call, we take about 6 weeks of home call per academic year. During these weeks, we remotely put in admission orders for the VA inpatient psychiatry unit we rotate on as PGY-1s and PGY-3s between 4:30 pm and 8 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We also carry the Center for Psychotherapy intake phone (to screen patients and schedule intake appointments) and 24/7 crisis pager.

In terms of other weekdays, on Mondays from July to December I was at the VA in the Immediate Mental Health Access Clinic (IMHAC). On Mondays from January to June I am at North Hills in their Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic. If I was not doing this, I would be at the VA every Monday doing one half day of ATRC (Anxiety and Trauma Resident Clinic) and one half day of Geropsychiatry Clinic. Wednesday morning consists of grand rounds and didactics from 8 am to noon. Lastly, Wednesday afternoons, Thursdays, and Fridays all the PGY-2 residents are at the Center for Psychotherapy Clinic doing psychotherapy with or without medication management.

PGY 3: Hana Millen, MD

Hello, I am Hana Millen, a native to the Milwaukee area and PGY-3 at MCWAH. Third year at this program is an exciting change from our second year that is spent in outpatient clinics. Third year offers a variety of inpatient, emergency, and consult experiences. We also get to spend a half day per week as a continuity clinic for some of our therapy (& medication management) patients that we cared for second year.

I am currently on my addiction psychiatry rotation that takes place at two different sites, the Milwaukee VA hospital (outpatient clinic) and Aurora in Wauwatosa (a residential treatment and partial hospitalization program.) On Tuesdays, I wake up around 7 a.m., and get my son ready, and my husband drives him to daycare. Somewhere between 8-9 a.m., I go to Aurora and start seeing patients. This Tuesday, I had two new intakes to the partial hospitalization program, both with alcohol use disorder as their primary diagnosis. I see them independently, then staff with an attending and write the notes. I typically get done at noon on Tuesdays and head to my half day of therapy continuity clinic at St. Joseph's on Milwaukee’s North side. My first patient was a no-show, so I caught up on a webinar my VA addiction attending sent me on treatment precipitated withdrawal from opiates with buprenorphine. While watching this, I treat myself to delicious leftovers from my Sunday brunch at my favorite restaurant, Blue’s Egg. This is followed by three 45-minute therapy appointments. I finish up my notes following these appointments and then find one of my co-residents at the end of the clinic day to chat. This turns into a half hour talk about life and setting up yoga together in a couple weeks.

After work, I spend time with my husband and my three year-old son. I also have family that lives in the area. I enjoy the lakes and forests that nearby Waukesha County has to offer, especially in the summer. I also thoroughly enjoy texting with my co-residents to complain about minor inconveniences in my daily life, which they graciously tolerate. I feel well supported by my attendings and fellow residents and highly recommend this program and the Milwaukee area.

PGY 4: Samuel Hall, MD

Hi! My name is Sam Hall. I’m a fourth-year resident and chief resident for the VA Medical Center.

As a fourth-year resident I have a lot of flexibility in creating my schedule. This year I’m on a longitudinal schedule, meaning my schedule is the same throughout the year, but with a different rotation each day or half day. Several of my rotations are at the VA. As chief, I help supervise the PGY2 outpatient clinic at the VA. I also work in the mental health urgent care and have my own clinic at the VA, each for a half day per week. Finally, I have some required rotations including a half day of outpatient neurology and a half day of my continuity psychotherapy clinic.

For my final month of residency, I’m doing a block schedule at Rogers on the inpatient eating disorders unit as a transition to practice rotation. We also have this rotation during our third year of residency, which is when I decided I wanted to go into work with patients with eating disorders.

Today, I will be working on both the inpatient eating disorders unit in the morning and supervising PGY2 residents at the VA in the afternoon. I usually wake up early to eat breakfast, drink coffee, and then bike or run. Afterwards, I get ready for work and have a short commute to the hospital. I live closer to Rogers this year, though most residents live in the Milwaukee/Wauwatosa area. I arrive at the hospital around 7:45 a.m., review the patient charts, and then start seeing patients. At noon we have an interdisciplinary meeting to discuss patient progress in the program. Today, I skip that meeting to go over to the VA to supervise the resident clinic in the afternoon. On other days this month, I go to my neurology rotation, see my therapy patients, or wrap up seeing patients on the eating disorders unit in the afternoon. In the evenings, I enjoy going home to play disc with my dogs, cook, relax and spend time with my wife.

I’ve found plenty of time to pursue my hobbies and interests outside of residency without sacrificing learning. I’ve trained for and raced ultra-marathons, learned how to cross-country ski, played in a weekly frisbee disc league with my dogs, and enjoyed spending time with friends and my co-residents. As residency wraps up, I’m happy to say that it has been a great experience and I feel well prepared to practice independently.

Program Information

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Curriculum and Rotations
General coursework and rotation information for the MCW-MKE Psychiatry Residency Program.

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Program Aims

Clinical Excellence: Develop residents into thoughtful, skilled, and caring psychiatrists who provide evidence-based and patient-centered care in a variety of settings.

Education: Train residents to be life-long learners and effective educators for a wider audience, including health care providers, patients, families, and their communities.

Community Engagement: Foster resident involvement in education and advocacy for the mental health needs of our community.

Scholarship: Promote development of clinicians who participate in scholarly activities throughout their practice, community, and specialty.

Wellness: Continue to support faculty and resident wellness, promoting balance, self-care and development of meaning within our profession.

Living and Working in Milwaukee
Milwaukee is one of the Midwest’s best-kept secrets and a prime location for the Medical College of Wisconsin’s main campus. Its cultural diversity, activities and attractions offer something for everyone.

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How to Apply
Answers to frequently asked questions about the application process.

View MCW-MKE Residency Program application FAQs

URiM Visiting Student Program

The Medical College of Wisconsin is currently offering a Visiting Medical Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) Student Elective Program.

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Benefits, Conditions & Terms of Employment

The Board of Directors of MCWAH establishes stipends for housestaff. The annual stipend levels for the academic year beginning July 1, 2023 are:

PGY1 - $66,450
PGY2 - $67,610
PGY3 - $68,760
PGY4 - $69,920

Learn more about program benefits from MCWAH

Contact Us

Physical Address
Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine
Tosa Health Center
1155 N. Mayfair Rd., Third Floor
Milwaukee, WI 53226

 

Mailing Address
MCWAH Psychiatry Residency Program – Milwaukee
8701 Watertown Plank Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53226

(414) 955-8998
(414) 955-6585 (fax)

MKE_Psychiatry@mcw.edu

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