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. The program recently implemented tracks so rotations are tailored to resident’s chosen interest in inpatient, outpatient, combination inpatient/outptaient, or OB. Each resident is further 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
Hospital Medicine Academic Team (HMAT)
Human Behavior & Mental Health
Maternity Care & Women’s Health
Osteopathic Curriculum
Outpatient Family Medicine (OFM)
Pediatrics
POCUS
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 which is currently undergoing an expansion from 18 to 30 beds. 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 another 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 Wausau rotation presents at Tuesday didactics once a month. These have included hands-on workshops for suturing and splinting/casting.
Hospital Medicine Academic Team (HMAT)
Residents are scheduled for the Hospital Medicine Academic Team rotation (inpatient medicine) 8-11 blocks over the course of residency, depending on track, and manage a wide range of medical conditions. Residents cover day service from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Each resident takes one week of nights per block, 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. The night shift is also staffed with in-house nocturnists. Weekends are fully covered by rotation; there is no separate weekend call schedule and no 24-hour call.
A mix of senior and junior Family Medicine residents and Psychiatry interns 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.
HMAT allows the opportunity to work with and learn from Pharmacy residents and Hospital Medicine fellows. Hospital Medicine fellows will involve Family Medicine residents in procedures.
Human Behavior & Mental Health
Second year residents have four weeks dedicated to Human Behavior and Mental Health. At least two weeks of the rotation take place at the local health care center’s inpatient 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/ counter-transference.
We schedule a didactic series with a local child psychiatrist on pediatric/adolescent psychiatry every other year.
Maternity Care
Residents participate in a total of 8-weeks of inpatient obstetrics at the Aspirus Wausau Hospital (AWH). Here, residents work alongside our dedicated OB Laborist team and collaborate with five obstetricians, one certified nurse midwife,, and six family physicians. In 2022 alone, our team delivered over 1,300 babies, ensuring exposure to a wide range of cases from routine to high-risk pregnancies. With our Level 3 NICU, there is also the opportunity to manage both normal and complicated pregnancies.
For residents passionate about pursuing low-risk obstetrics, our "OB Track" offers an additional 8 weeks of intensive training at both AWH and sister sites of the program. This track includes enhanced mentorship with local obstetricians and family physicians, additional OB clinic experience, and weekend call duties, preparing residents on the OB track for a future in this rewarding field.
Beyond obstetrics and gynecology rotations, residents participate in the program’s obstetrics continuity clinic, ensuring ongoing, longitudinal patient care experience. To further bolster skills, all first-year residents attend Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) training and certification in July and an additional OB Bootcamp in December. These trainings equip residents with the essential skills and confidence to provide exceptional care to our obstetric patients.
Otseopathic Curriculum
Osteopathic residents receive comprehensive training in osteopathic manipulation under the expert guidance of our osteopathic fellowship-trained faculty physician. Residents have the opportunity to perform Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) on their own clinic patients and participate in dedicated OMT referral cases. During clinic, our osteopathic site director provides direct supervision, further enhancing residents' palpatory and treatment skills.
Additionally, Wausau residents join their peers from across Wisconsin for quarterly OMT workshops through the University of Wisconsin Statewide Osteopathic Collaborative. These workshops offer residents additional hands-on training and educational experiences with osteopathic faculty from across the state, fostering a community of learning and professional growth.
Outpatient Family Medicine (OFM)
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. Residents have dedicated blocks to OFM each year of residency.
We serve a diverse patient population including pediatrics, maternity care, geriatrics, OMT, and office-based treatment of addiction disorders including long-acting injectables as well as special populations including transgender care and 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: Residents participate in a one-month inpatient rotation at Marshfield Children’s Hospital.
The Pediatrics curriculum includes inpatient and outpatient experiences across the Aspirus system.
Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)
The hospital has a comprehensive POCUS program. We have a longitudinal POCUS curriculum and elective. We have ultrasound in our clinic and residents have the opportunity to learn and graduate with POCUS credentials.
Rural
Second year residents are scheduled for a one-block rotation in Antigo to 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 may 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 as well as continuity clinics.
Scholarly Activity
Faculty and residents participate in scholarly activities at the FMC, including writing for publication, research, and quality improvement. All residents complete Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) and receive mentorship and guidance on projects. Residents work in teams on quality improvement initiatives and may work individually or in groups on writing projects such as case reports and Family Physicians Inquiries Network (FPIN) Help Desk Answers. Residents lead journal club monthly.
Wellness
The Aspirus Wausau Family Medicine Residency Program cares about the health and wellness of our residents. Highlights include:
Resident retreats twice a year with the activities planned by the chiefs. Family members are invited and everyone is given time away from 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 year for CME which may be used for approved conferences or to prepare for Step 3 and the Board Certifying 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.
