Aspirus Wausau Residency Curriculum
The Aspirus Wausau Family Medicine Center (FMC) serves as a resident’s educational home. Learning experiences are incorporated into clinical experiences using one-on-one teaching environments that take place in multiple settings.
The curriculum evolves to meet ACGME requirements and the needs of the residents in the changing environment of medicine today. Each resident is encouraged to be an independent learner with an ability to direct his/her educational needs and goals through curriculum that allows residents to individualize portions of their own experience.
Wausau’s program year is divided up into 13 four-week blocks. Highlights include:
Didactic Conferences
Emergency Medicine
Flexible Electives
Hospital Medicine Academic Team (HMAT)
Human Behavior & Mental Health
Maternity Care & Women’s Health
Orthopedics/Sports Medicine
Osteopathic Curriculum
Outpatient Family Medicine (OFM)
Pediatrics
Rural
Scholarly Activity
Wellness
Didactic Conferences
Each Tuesday afternoon is dedicated to conference time for residents. This includes local subspecialty speakers, case presentations, board preparation, hands-on workshops, and wellness activities.
Emergency Medicine
During the first year, residents rotate at the Aspirus Wausau Hospital Emergency Room and regional Level II Trauma Center. The highly trained Emergency Room physicians and staff are enthusiastic teachers who are available to residents 24 hours a day. As PGY3s, residents may complete their EM experience either in Wausau or at the rural Aspirus ER in Medford with a faculty physician who is a graduate from our program.
The EM faculty who oversees the curriculum and rotation presents at Tuesday didactics once a month. These have included hands-on workshops for suturing and splinting/casting.
Flexible Electives
Residents may choose from electives already developed or design electives to meet their interests. Common electives include Endocrinology, Oncology, Hospitalist Medicine, Podiatry, Rheumatology, Urgent Care, and Wound Clinic.
Hospital Medicine Academic Team (HMAT)
Over the course of the program, residents spend a total of 9 blocks on the inpatient Hospital Medicine Academic Team (HMAT) managing a wide range of medical conditions.
A mix of senior and junior residents cover the service, working as a team to provide patient care. Faculty and residents conduct daily teaching rounds.
Family physicians, hospitalists, internists, and other subspecialty physicians provide teaching and consultation support.
Human Behavior & Mental Health
Second year residents have four weeks dedicated to Human Behavior and Mental Health. The rotation takes place at the local health care center with time split between the adult and pediatric units. This is another opportunity for our residents to work with the local psychiatry residents.
Fourth year psychiatry residents present topics at Tuesday didactics such as pharmacology and management of common psychiatric medications and boundaries/transference/countertransference.
We schedule a didactic series with a local child psychiatrist on pediactric/adolescent psychiatry every other year.
Maternity Care & Women’s Health
Wausau’s Maternity Care and Women’s Health curriculum includes three blocks at Aspirus in combined Obstetrics/Gynecology rotations. More than 20% of Aspirus Wausau Hospital’s births are performed by Family Medicine physicians. Residents gain exposure to normal and complicated births. Faculty physicians practice and teach obstetrics.
First year residents attend Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics training/certification in July.
Orthopedics/Sports Medicine
Orthopedics/Sport Medicine rotations are scheduled in the first and second year. One week during that time is dedicated to Outpatient Therapies including specialties such as industrial rehab, wheelchair evaluations, and concussions. The remaining seven weeks are split between two different orthopedic groups to expose residents to clinical and surgical orthopedics and sports medicine.
The ortho/sports medicine faculty who oversees the curriculum presents at Tuesday didactics on a monthly basis.
Osteopathic Curriculum
DO residents learn and perform osteopathic manipulation under the guidance of an osteopathic fellowship trained faculty physician. They have the opportunity to perform OMT on their own clinic patients as well as participate in referrals during separate OMT Clinic half days. Our osteopathic site director provides direct supervision during the OMT Clinic to further enhance DO residents’ palpatory and treatment skills. Wausau residents also join other DO residents throughout the state of Wisconsin for quarterly OMT workshops through the University of Wisconsin Statewide Osteopathic Collaborative. This provides residents with additional hands on training and educational experiences with osteopathic faculty statewide.
Outpatient Family Medicine (OFM)
At Aspirus Wausau Family Medicine Residency, we are moving toward the Clinic First model to give residents maximum time in the outpatient setting. Residents start on day one with their own continuity panel of patients which have been passed down from graduated residents. Time spent in the outpatient clinic is on average four half days per week all three years of residency. In PGY-3, eight weeks of OFM gives residents the experience and confidence to be fully prepared for independent practice.
We serve a diverse patient population including pediatrics, maternity care, geriatrics, OMT, and addiction medicine as well as special populations including HIV, transgender, Hmong/Southeast Asian.
We have introduced a collaborative care module with PGY4 psychiatry residents in the clinic on a weekly basis to assist with mental health care.
Pediatrics
The Pediatrics curriculum includes inpatient and outpatient experiences across the Aspirus system.
PGY1: One block on Inpatient Pediatrics. Neonatal Resuscitation Program training is provided at Aspirus during orientation in June. Pediatric Advanced Life Support training is provided locally in the fall.
PGY2 & 3: One block each on Outpatient Pediatrics. Residents may choose to rotate at the pediatric clinic in Wausau or in more rural settings.
PGY 2 or 3: Most of our residents are able to participate in a one-month rotation at Marshfield Children’s Hospital.
Rural
Second year residents are scheduled for a one-block rotation in Antigo. Here they experience medicine in a rural setting. The rotation includes a variety of experiences with family medicine clinic, OB, ER, hospitalists, Native American health, and convalescent care. Activities meant to immerse the residents into the community include visits with county health department and alternative health care providers.
Residents have the opportunity, if they desire, for additional rural experiences through both required and elective rotations that have locations in rural settings.
We have started working with LaClinica to provide an elective rotation with their mobile unit which travels to rural locations throughout Wisconsin to provide care for migrant workers and others with limited access to health care.
Scholarly Activity
Faculty and residents participate in Scholarly Activity projects at the FMC, including research and quality improvement.
PGY1 & 2: Residents are divided into two groups to complete group projects. The goal is to have each resident complete two projects while in residency, learning to work through QI/Continuous Improvement process and create positive chance with lasting results.
PGY3: Residents choose a topic and work with a faculty member of their choice to prepare and present a Grand Rounds CME presentation at Aspirus Wausau Hospital.
Longitudinal: Residents are encouraged to participate in other scholarly activities as opportunities arise. Recent examples include a Rural Health Initiative and an Appropriate Level of Care Project.
Wellness
The Aspirus Wausau Family Medicine Residency Program cares about the health and wellness of our residents. Highlights include:
Retreats twice a year where residents plan their own activities, family members are invited, and everyone is given time away from call, clinic, and rotation. Recent retreats have included Wausau Woodchucks baseball game, whitewater rafting, escape room, paintball, and a waterpark in Wisconsin Dells.
Individual wellness half days are scheduled twice a year where residents may use this time as they choose: getting an oil change, doing laundry, going for a hike, or just plain relaxing.
Group wellness activities are planned when there is a fifth Tuesday in the month. These have included art projects, cheese tasting, bowling, touring a local historical museum, and visiting a local botanical garden.
Residents are able to attend local medical and dental appointments during work hours without deducting from their Personal Time Off bank.
The HMAT rotation is scheduled so there are no 24-hour call shifts which in turn means more weekends off the rest of the year.
Residents are given CME/professional development funds each year.
Residents are given five days each for CME which may be used for approved conferences or to prepare for Step 3 and the Board Exam.
The Associate Program Director from the local Psychiatry Residency Program gives resiliency and burn out presentations throughout the year to help residents reflect on strategies for self-care.
WiNC, our sponsoring institution, provides excellent resources for resident wellness here.
