Medical College of Wisconsin Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship

Consultation-Liaison (CL) Psychiatrists have special training and experience in evaluating and treating patients who are referred from other physicians or who are cared for in integrated practice settings. They are very comfortable helping patients who have complex or severe medical or surgical problems that may exacerbate or be exacerbated by psychiatric issues. Additional information regarding the field of consultation-liaison psychiatry can be found at the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

The Medical College of Wisconsin offers a one-year, ACGME-accredited consultation-liaison psychiatry fellowship in Milwaukee, WI. The goal of this program is to train fellows to become knowledgeable, astute and compassionate physicians with unique expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders in complex medically ill patients.

As a Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellow, you will provide psychiatric services to all other medical and surgical departments within Froedtert Hospital, Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center (VAMC), Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital and Aurora St. Luke's Hospital, including internal medicine and medical subspecialties, neurology, surgical services, intensive care units, and rehabilitation medicine.

After successful completion of the Consultation-Liaison Fellowship Program, fellows will be able to take the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry certification examination offered by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN).

Research Training for Fellows

Research opportunities at the Medical College of Wisconsin are abundant. Due to the wealth of patient material, prospective or retrospective investigations are possible. Fellows can work with established clinical researchers on ongoing projects, as well as develop independent research projects. Fellows are required to complete at least one academic project by the end of their fellowship; this may include a Grand Rounds presentation, regional or national presentation or publication.

Application Process

The Consultation-Liaison Fellowship Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin has accreditation for three (3) positions, however number of positions available each year is dependent on available funding. Our program accepts ongoing applications.

Typically, interviews take place in the fall for the following academic year.

Our program does utilize ERAS, however does not accept the universal application from the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. Our program participates in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and abides by regulations as outlined by the NRMP.

Rotation & Didactic Information

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Clinical Rotations

Fellows receive extensive experience in medically-oriented psychiatric consultation in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Fellows will gain the skills and experience necessary to independently evaluate and treat complex psychological problems.

Inpatient Consultation Service

Froedtert Hospital
With over 800 patient beds, Froedtert Hospital offers a diversity of clinical inpatient, acute rehabilitation, emergency/trauma, and ambulatory services to the over 700,000 patients seen annually. The Psychiatric Consult Service (C/L) at Froedtert Hospital sees approximately 90-100 new consults each month across these diverse services, coupled to over 3,000 subsequent follow-up visits. Fellows will present and discuss all new and follow-up cases seen in clinical supervision with attending CL psychiatrists. Clinical rounds and supervision with attending CL psychiatrists occur each day. Fellows will also work closely and supervise general adult PGY3 psychiatry residents and medical students.

Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center
The Zablocki VA is an academic medical center closely affiliated with MCW. It has a well-established Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison (C/L) service staffed by 2 full-time faculty psychiatrists. Zablocki VA serves a population of 235,000 veterans in southeast and east central WI. There are approximately 200 acute care beds in addition to sub-acute, residential treatment and nursing home beds. Zablocki VA has a number of specialty units: Palliative Care, Geriatrics and Spinal Cord Injury. The Psychiatry C/L service provides over 600 consultations annually across these clinical settings. Table and bedside rounds occur daily. Fellows will also work closely and supervise general adult PGY3 psychiatry residents, senior neurology residents, and medical students.

Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital
Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital, the academic center’s private partnered community hospital, requires that consultants write orders on patients, rather than only providing recommendations to a primary medical or surgical service, which is a different model of practice as compared to the other academically based hospitals. The patient population at Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital tends to be more community-based, less high-acuity patients. Patients are predominantly over the age of 55 years. Common diagnoses include dementia and delirium. The Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital psychiatric consultation service sees between 500-600 patients yearly.

Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center
Aurora St. Luke’s Hospital is a for-profit, private hospital, with nearly 1,000 inpatient beds, with large patient volume and focus on initial psychiatric consultation for a specific question, rather than ongoing follow-up throughout the patient’s hospitalization. Over 2,500 behavioral health consultations are completed yearly. Most common diagnoses include depression, suicide risk assessment, delirium, neurocognitive disorders with behavioral disturbances, and acute withdrawal syndromes. St. Luke’s Medical Center has a large transplant program and the mental health team works closely with this department as well. The inpatient psychiatric C/L team is truly a multidisciplinary team including, internal medicine, family medicine and OB/GYN residents, advanced practice providers, psychology interns, medical students from UW-School of Medicine and Public Health rotating for their psychiatry clerkship.

Didactics

The educational program consists of daily rounds, seminars, and formal and informal case discussions. Daily interaction between the program faculty and fellows will result in a close working relationship and a dynamic learning environment. In addition to daily informal education, the fellow will also participate in weekly didactics. Didactics includes 40 topics taught by several different psychiatry, medicine and surgical faculty, as well as several sessions co-taught by psychiatry and medicine faculty. Fellows will also participate in:

Weekly Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Grand Rounds
Bi-Monthly Journal Club
Participation in the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry annual meeting

Elective Rotations

Consultation-Liaison fellows have 3 half-days per week to participate in elective rotations of their choosing. Longitudinal elective rotations vary in length from 6-12 months. The fellow can select from several different elective rotations at various clinical sites; up to six different electives can be chosen. However, if the fellow would prefer to immerse in just a few electives, that can be accommodated as well. Additionally, the fellow would have the opportunity of completing a research elective as well.

Froedtert Hospital

Emergency Psychiatry
Geriatric Psychiatry
Integrated Behavioral Health
Neuromodulation
Psycho-oncology
Perinatal Psychiatry
Toxicology
Transplant Psychiatry

VAMC

Addiction Psychiatry
Immediate Mental Health Access Center
Inpatient Palliative Care Consult Service

Meet the Team

Director | Christina Wichman, DO

Dr. Christina Wichman is a Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She completed residency in Adult Psychiatry and fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at Mayo Clinic.

Clinically, Dr. Wichman created and directs a co-located perinatal psychiatric service, embedded within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and is the Director of Women’s Mental Health at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is the Medical Director for The Periscope Project, a provider-to-provider teleconsultation service for providers caring for perinatal patients with psychiatric or substance use disorders.

Dr. Wichman has been the fellowship director for the Consultation-Liaison Fellowship at MCW since its inception and prides herself on creating a fellowship experience unique to each individual fellow, as dictated by each fellows particular interests.

Learn more about Dr. Wichman