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

Hello! I’m Hannah Mercier, a PGY-1 psychiatry resident. I moved to Milwaukee from New Orleans, where I did my medical school training. Prior to moving, I had not spent a significant amount of time in Milwaukee (I'm originally from the northern Chicago suburbs). However, I’ve absolutely loved living here for the last three months — there’s so much to do, especially in the summer months when there is a festival or market every weekend! It’s a very welcoming city that I’m happy to call home. Here’s a day in my life:

6:30 a.m.: Wake up and spend time with my 6-month-old, husband, and dog. We are big coffee drinkers - my favorite Milwaukee beans are from Valentine Coffee Roasters!

8 a.m.: Leave for work. I’m rotating on community psych for the month of August and am working with the Milwaukee County ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) Team. The team has psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, addiction specialists, and peer support specialists. Patients admitted to the team have persistent severe mental illness and we work with them intensively on a multiple-day-a-week basis providing medication management, therapy, and case management. When I get into the office, I spend time chart checking my patients prior to the daily team meeting at 8:30am.

8:30 a.m.: Daily team meeting to discuss each patient (~50) and any updates from the last 24 hours. Touch on medication compliance, medication changes, crisis alerts and concerns.

9 a.m.: Meet with my attending, Dr. Singh, to discuss patients we plan to see that day. I usually look up their psychiatric history including diagnoses, medication regimen, symptomatology, and prior hospitalizations. As an intern, it’s important to look up prescribing guidelines for each medication so I can start building my knowledge base. We then leave the office and go to patients’ homes to meet with them. We will usually see 2-3 patients a day. Dr. Singh asks me to lead the interviews and afterwards we’ll discuss mental status exam, assessment, and plan.

1 p.m.: Lunch and documentation! I will write up patient notes and follow up on remaining tasks. Sometimes we have to call psychiatrists on inpatient units to discuss patients who may have been admitted to the hospital. We’ll give some background on their case and answer any questions the inpatient team has. Continuity of care is so important for our patients — giving context to the admitting doctor will help support informed patient care.

3-4 p.m.: Head home for the day. I get to spend a lot of time with my son in the late afternoon and evening, which I’m so thankful for!

6 p.m.: After my husband gets off work, we’ll hang out in our backyard, water all our tomatoes and herbs, and prep dinner. I love to cook - my favorite dish is a traditional Bolognese pasta sauce and a fresh salad using ingredients I pick up every Saturday morning from the farmer’s market in the Tosa (Wauwatosa) Village. We try to go for an evening walk each night and will often stop for frozen custard at Fred’s down the street!!

I'm Matthew White, and I'm excited to introduce you to PGY 2 year at MCW. Our program sets itself apart from other programs with a unique focus on outpatient psychiatry clinics during the second year. Let me provide you with a more detailed glimpse into what to expect during this second year.

There are several psychopharm clinics where you will rotate during your second year. Every Monday, I begin my day early at 7 AM in CCAPS, our Froedtert Hospital associated clinic. I use this time to review patient charts and prepare for the day's appointments. Patient consultations start promptly at 8 AM. An interesting aspect of this clinic is that each office is equipped with cameras that transmit video and audio to a control room, where attending physicians and the chief resident monitor our visits. This innovative setup allows us to develop clinical autonomy while receiving close supervision. After each patient session, we convene briefly in the control room to discuss and fine-tune treatment plans. Around 11 AM, we hold a meeting to address any clinic-related issues and engage in clinical education led by our exceptional chief resident. Lunchtime arrives at 12 PM, and I usually bring my own lunch. Fortunately, we have access to Dragon dictation services, which make note-taking a breeze. I aim to complete all my morning notes before the afternoon session, during which I see patients from 1 to 4 PM. The number of patients we see varies, typically ranging from 4 to 9, depending on the day. My goal is to finish all my notes by 5 PM, allowing me to spend quality time with my family in the evening.

Tuesdays I am at the VA where we have Geropsychiatry clinic in the morning and Anxiety/Trauma clinic in the afternoon. This day follows a similar schedule and provides an awesome opportunity to manage these unique populations.

During our therapy clinic days from Wednesday to Friday, residents have the freedom to schedule patients at their convenience. We each have our own office, which we can personalize to create a comfortable and inviting space. Wednesday mornings are dedicated to a broad array of didactic topics, while Friday morning didactics are reserved for comprehensive therapy training. To maximize administrative time, I choose to see the majority of my patients on Thursdays.

My Thursday starts at 7 AM, although some of my colleagues opt for a later start to catch a bit more sleep or go to the gym. My day kicks off with a meeting with my therapy supervisor, where we discuss therapy patients and delve into clinical advice. We explore different therapy modalities and tackle various issues that may arise during therapy sessions. My first patient appointment begins at 8 AM, and I aim to have sessions scheduled every hour throughout the day, apart from lunch. I also strategically arrange my schedule so that I see my more "challenging" cases at different points during the day to manage fatigue. To be honest, I had some reservations about whether I would enjoy therapy sessions. However, I have been pleasantly surprised as I've come to appreciate the autonomy it provides and recognize its potential to enhance my skills as an inpatient psychiatrist.

Second year is indeed demanding, but it offers a remarkable opportunity for rapid personal and professional growth. Here are a few additional aspects to consider. Most of our weekends are free, providing ample time to pursue your hobbies. Personally, I've been able to indulge in golfing several times a month throughout the summer and explore the many parks around Milwaukee with my kids! On-call duty occurs for one week at a time, approximately six weeks a year. During this time, you manage the therapy crisis pager, screen new therapy patients, and handle overnight admissions at the VA two nights of the week. The beauty is that these responsibilities are managed comfortably from the comfort of your home! I can't speak highly enough about this program. I have developed strong bonds with my co-residents, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone considering it!

Hi! My name is Maureen and I’m currently a PGY-3, and I am very excited to share a glimpse of what a typical day looks like for me. Our third year at the Milwaukee campus is spent rotating through various inpatient services which looks a bit different than PGY-2 which is spent in various outpatient clinics. I am currently on my addiction psychiatry rotation which has been enjoyable so far. We rotate between two different sites being the Milwaukee VA hospital outpatient clinic, as well as the Aurora Psychiatric Hospital in Wauwatosa which includes a residential treatment and partial hospitalization program.

6:30 a.m.: My alarm goes off, which means it’s time to start getting ready for the day. I can expect an energetic Cavapoo (Leo) waiting for me to get out of bed so that we can take our quick morning walk and get his breakfast started. After that’s settled, I usually finish getting ready, pack my lunch and make my coffee for the day.

8:30-8:45 a.m.: Arrive at Aurora clinic and check in with my attending for the morning. If we have a new intake, I usually start my chart review with them first and will see them individually before officially staffing with my attending. There were no new intakes today, which meant I focused on chart reviewing our patients both in the residential and partial hospitalization program before seeing follow ups.

10-11:30 a.m.: My attending and I will usually start seeing follow up patients together. After we’re done, we discuss plan of care, put in orders, and then start working on documentation/notes. On Tuesdays, I am at Aurora until 12pm as I have my continuity psychotherapy clinic in the afternoons. This is pretty cool because we get to work with these patients from PGY-2 to PGY-3/PGY-4 which makes for great learning!

12-5 p.m.: Today, all of my patients are virtual, so I usually head back home and see my patients remotely. The Aurora hospital is located in Wauwatosa and not too far from me which is great. Once I get home, I take my dog out for a quick walk and will usually eat lunch while watching a quick YouTube vlog. My first patient is at 1:15pm, followed by a 2pm, 3pm and 4:00pm apt. All are about 45-minute therapy appointments. In between patients, I usually have about 15 minutes of break time which is really nice.

After work, I usually make dinner (or order Uber eats if it’s one of those days). Luckily today I had some leftovers. I usually then catch up with my family and friends. I planned to hit the gym a few times during the week and am grateful to have been keeping up with that. I decided to skip out tonight as my couch was calling my name. I caught up on some Netflix shows and did some studying for PRITE (Psychiatry Resident In- Training Examination) which is a yearly in-service exam that psychiatry residents nationwide take and is typically taken every Fall of the academic year. Overall, I’ve really enjoyed this service! We get weekends off and the attendings I have had the pleasure of working with are all very kind, knowledgeable and are great teachers.

Hello, I am Hana Millen, a native to the Milwaukee area and PGY-4 at MCWAH. I am the chief resident at the Center for Consultative Academic Psychiatric Services (CCAPS), an outpatient psychiatry clinic in Wauwatosa.

I have chosen a longitudinal schedule for the fourth year, as our program has a lot of flexibility during this year. On Mondays and Tuesdays, I help to supervise 3 or 4 of the PGY2 residents at the CCAPS clinic. The other days of the week are split between different outpatient clinics- with a half day at dementia clinic with neurology at the VA, a half day at psych-oncology clinic at Froedtert, and a half day at transplant psychiatry clinic (also at Froedtert). We have didactics on Wednesday mornings, which are a mix of in-person and virtual, and I have a half day per week of chief resident administration time. The last part of my schedule (and one of the most delightful), is the half day per week of psychotherapy continuity clinic. There, I see patients that I originally met during my second year. As we have outpatient year as a PGY-2, one of the real benefits is that we get to follow these patients for a year longer than we would otherwise.

My fourth-year schedule has the benefit of being consistent each week, and I am consistently done by 5pm. I have every weekend off as well. This lets me have lots of time to explore the things I love about Milwaukee and the surrounding area- weekend brunches, playing with my son, spending time at Pewaukee Lake (a half hour west of Milwaukee), and time with my pets- three cats and three aquatic frogs.

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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.

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

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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