Regional Opportunities
The UW School of Medicine is the medical school for a 5-state region, the WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho). The UW Psychiatry Residency Program is committed to training psychiatrists to serve this region, which includes about one quarter of the land mass of the United States and some of the most underserved areas for psychiatry and other mental health providers. Training opportunities within the WWAMI region include our Idaho Advanced Clinician Track, Alaska Fourth Year Track, and away rotations open to residents in both the Seattle and Idaho Tracks.
Idaho Advanced Clinician Track
The Idaho Advanced Clinician Track trains psychiatrists to become outstanding clinicians with balanced training in both general psychiatry and in providing consultation to primary care physicians in small communities. It is a separate residency program, with a separate match number and its own individual curriculum.
Curriculum
Train for two years in Seattle in basic inpatient, outpatient and consultation psychiatry, as well as some basic subspecialty rotations (addictions, child and adolescent psychiatry).
Train for two years in Boise, ID, completing outpatient psychiatry, consultation liaison psychiatry, and primary care consultation rotations. This track includes the unique opportunity to work in the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho clinic part-time for 2 years, providing psychiatric consultations and ongoing care.
Features
- Small resident group (4-6)
- No call in the PGY-3 and PGY-4 years.
- Work closely with faculty, family medicine residents, and medical students in Boise
Alaska Fourth Year Track
The goal of the new Alaska Fourth Year Track is to increase the number of community based psychiatrists practicing in Alaska. This track emphasizes primary care integration, telepsychiatry, and rural/remote community consultation.
Curriculum
Train for the first three years in Seattle, completing core required residency rotations. Each Alaska Track resident will also spend one month in Alaska during the PGY-2 or PGY-3 year.
Spend the fourth year in Alaska doing elective rotations at clinical sites across the state. Didactics are done with Seattle Track PGY-4s, by teleconference.
Features
- Weekly primary care consultation and telepsychiatry clinics
- Opportunities to travel to remote communities
- No call in PGY-4 year
Residents interested in beginning a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship in the PGY-4 year should not apply to the Alaska Track. Alaska Track residents may begin a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship in their PGY-5 year.
Regional Opportunities
Over the past 10 years, residents have completed away rotations, for 1 to 7 months, in Alaska (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau), Montana (Bozeman), and Wyoming (Casper, Cheyenne). These elective rotations are generally completed in the PGY-3 or PGY-4 year. Available locations for WWAMI region rotations vary by year and are subject to funding. In future years, Alaska rotations will give preference to those residents in the Alaska Track.
