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About the MCW Central Wisconsin Psychiatry Residency Program

If a commitment to community psychiatry with a strongly academic institution and a balanced lifestyle are important to you and your family, we encourage you to apply to the Central Wisconsin program. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

Our Program's Distinguishing Features

Small

Small

It is based in the communities of Central Wisconsin: Wausau, Rhinelander, Tomah, Ashland, Marshfield and Stevens Point. The direct faculty are the psychiatrists from these communities.

Big

Big

Our residents will receive didactic teaching through lectures, seminars, and case conferences through the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in Milwaukee which was recently recognized by ACGME for its academic excellence as the Best Large Program in the United States. Residents also benefit from local didactics with program faculty.

Community

Community

MCW is uniquely committed to serving in areas of need. Our program will partner with the communities we serve and provide quality, cost effective and accessible mental health services. Residents will have the opportunity in their PGY-4 year to develop a community-based project designed to collaborate with local agencies or schools and meet a community need. Hopefully this will result in a presentation, poster, or publication. Our educational program emphasizes personal, one-to-one, teacher to learner experiences in a variety of clinical settings including private, community and VA hospitals and clinics.

Academia

Academia

  • Elective research opportunities in a department that is ranked 22nd nationally among medical school psychiatry departments receiving National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funding.
  • Opportunity to teach medical students on clinical rotations and didactics.
  • Although the MCW Library is physically located in Milwaukee, its primary resources remain available to all residents and faculty regardless of location. Librarian consultation, document delivery requests, library training and library search requests are all available via internet or telephone.
Lifestyle

Lifestyle

  • There is limited overnight in-house call with the Central Wisconsin Psychiatry Program. There is occasional weekend rounding and select rotations with night and weekend coverage. Residents will have the time for the reflection so important for understanding and improving one’s performance and growing identity as a psychiatrist.
  • Our residents’ wellbeing is important. There is an Experiential Group offering PGY1 residents a supportive forum to develop class cohesiveness and draw from mutual experiences. This is a new program; our first residents are breaking new ground and will always have open access to the program director. We will work to develop and implement a wellness plan for each resident and our small size ensures personal attention.
  • Our Central Wisconsin location provides the opportunity for a balanced, affordable lifestyle with easy access to the great outdoors and without the worries of big city life and traffic.
Other Strengths

Other Strengths

  • MCW believes that psychiatrists should be well rounded and places a strong emphasis on psychotherapy training. Residents will have a longitudinal experience to work with patients for several years. Supervision for psychotherapy will take place with local psychiatrists and psychologists as well as the psychotherapy expertise of the Medical College campus in Milwaukee via virtual connections. The psychotherapy faculty includes psychoanalysts and experts in cognitive and behavioral therapy (CBT) as part of our unique separate psychotherapy training program.
  • Psychiatric Crisis Service in Marathon County is a psychiatric emergency room experience in a community setting where residents learn the fundamentals of legal commitments and testifying in court. They also will manage high acuity patients and psychiatric emergencies and coordinate care using local resources.
  • In the PG4 year, our residents have numerous elective options including: Inpatient Psychiatry, Outpatient Psychiatry, Integrative Psychiatry (Consult/Liaison), Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), Telepsychiatry, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Residential Treatment, Research, Geropsychiatry, Community Psychiatry, Partial Hospital Crisis & Mobile Psychiatry, Administrative Psychiatry.
  • The Medical College of Wisconsin is also home to fellowships in Addiction, Child and Adolescent, Geriatrics, Forensics and Consultation-Liaison.

Training Sites

The MCW Psychiatric Residency Program is embedded in the communities of Central Wisconsin. Residents will benefit from working in private, community and VA settings. Our mission is to serve the diverse populations of rural and small urban centers. If you are interested in serving in an area of need in a variety of locations, this could be your ideal training experience.
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Aspirus Rhinelander Hospital

Aspirus Hospital in Rhinelander is a private general medical surgical hospital with a psychiatric inpatient service and a child/adolescent service. In the PGY1 year, Aspirus Rhinelander Hospital is the site for two months of the six required inpatient psychiatry months. Their inpatient service provides care for patients with a spectrum of conditions. Residents will be supervised by a psychiatric hospitalist with back up from two other staff psychiatrists. In the PGY2 year, Aspirus Koller Behavioral Health will provide the two plus required months (20% FTE for 12 months) of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry with their outpatient child program. Residents will not only diagnose and treat outpatients, but will also participate in psychosocial programs such as group and activity therapy. A staff psychiatrist certified in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry will oversee the rotation and two off-site board-certified Child and Adolescent psychiatrists will provide additional supervision. Additional inpatient psychiatry rotations during the PGY3-4 years round out the training in Rhinelander.

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Aspirus Wausau Hospital

Aspirus Wausau Hospital is the primary care teaching site during the PGY1 year working in tandem with the Aspirus Family Medicine Residency Program. The Wausau Family Medicine Residency Program provides challenging experiences in rural medicine, cardiac and medical intensive care, emergency medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics. The MCW-CW residents will be part of the Teaching Service Rotation. During this rigorous Teaching Service (inpatient medicine) block, residents cover call from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday, plus call in the hospital from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm on Saturdays or Sundays. The PGY4 year includes an integrative care clinic.

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North Central Health Care (NCHC)

North Central Health Care (NCHC) is the flagship site for the MCW-CW Psychiatry Residency Program.

North Central Health Care (NCHC) is a not-for-profit agency that provides inpatient and outpatient health and mental health care for Marathon County and several other Central Wisconsin counties. Residents will have the opportunity to learn from the comprehensive community services that North Central provides. The faculty includes graduates of the MCW-Northeastern Psychiatry Residency Program and working with experienced community-based psychiatrists. Undergoing major renovations, North Central Health Care provides multiple rotations throughout the four-year training program including inpatient psychiatry for adults and children, outpatient, crisis and a multiple-year continuity clinic.

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Tomah VA Medical Center

Throughout the four years of residency training, the Tomah VA Medical Center will provide opportunities for training in several important areas. The Tomah VA is known for treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as well as integrative psychiatry where residents will be embedded in the primary care clinic performing consultations to the primary care treatment team and then advising the primary care physician who will provide ongoing care. The Tomah VA provides housing for residents to avoid daily commuting during the elective/selective rotation.

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Ashland Memorial Medical Center (AMMC)

In Ashland is the teaching site during the PGY3 year for a one-month Addiction rotation. The AMMC Behavioral Health team includes some of the area’s most highly trained practitioners who partner with the patient to provide a comprehensive and individualized recovery plan. Housing is provided during this flexible rotation.

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