Featured Resident Profiles

Clinical Rotations

• 5 months of Harborview inpatient psychiatry
• 1 month VA psychiatry
• 1 month R1 Risk
• 1 month Harborview internal medicine
• 2 months VA internal medicine
• 1 month UW neurology
• 1 month VA neurology
• 1 month Harborview emergency room

How many hours on average do you work each week?
So far, an average week has been about 45-50 hours in the hospital.

How often do you work nights and weekends?
In my first month at Harborview, I’ve been assigned 1 short-call shift (which is where you arrive at the normal time in the morning and stay until 8pm), as well as 1 overnight call shift (where I had an excellent 3rd year resident trainer by my side all night and even managed to get a little sleep).

Sunday

Morning and Afternoon: Brunch with my sisters (who now both live in Seattle!) to gab and recharge / potentially get into an argument / occasionally practice relational repair. Never a dull moment with them.

Evening: Ramble through the GORGEOUS public UW Arboretum with my girlfriend and our sweet 1-year-old dog, Tova.

Monday

Morning and Afternoon: I take the bus to Harborview where I arrive to the resident workroom around 7am, get sign-out on my patients from the overnight resident, and chart review for about an hour. At 8am, I join my attending (+/- a medical student or two) and head to multidisciplinary team meeting with members of our unit’s incredible nursing, social work, occupational therapy, and pharmacy staff. After meeting, we interview patients and usually finish up rounding by 11am. From 11-12, I plug in medication orders, call consults, grab an ice coffee from the Maleng cafe, and get started on some progress notes. On Mondays from noon-1pm we have inpatient didactics (with lunch provided), and so far, these teaching sessions have centered on topics relevant to new interns, such as how to respond to medical emergencies on the psychiatric unit or a panel discussion featuring our allied mental health colleagues. Afterward, I finish up on notes, go back to see specific patients I’d like to gather more information on / practice some therapeutic listening with, and generally interrupt my coresidents’ workflow with random chatter. I usually finish up my to-do’s and sign out to the short call resident sometime between 3 and 6pm depending on the day, and then head out for the evening!

Evening: Go sit out on the T-dock at Lake Washington with my sister to laugh a bunch and admire Mt. Rainier.

Tuesday

Morning and Afternoon: Harborview workflow (see Monday). On Tuesdays at noon we have another weekly hour of didactics with our super supportive inpatient chiefs, Alexis and Kathy.

Evening: Camp out with my laptop, notebook, and a slushy at Stoup Brewing to do some much-needed work/life personal admin tasks.

Wednesday

Morning and Afternoon: Harborview workflow 🙂

Evening: High likelihood of seeking out delicious, affordable Mexican at Tacos Chukis after work. High likelihood of enjoying the aforementioned while rewatching multiple episodes of Vanderpump on the couch.

Thursday

Morning and Afternoon: Harborview in the morning, and then head out by 11am so I can make it to UW Northwest Hospital by noon for provided lunch and an afternoon of didactics. There’s a very reasonable policy in place that residents don’t write more than two progress notes on Thursdays so our afternoon is freed up for learning. Most recent Thursday lecture was on the Psychopathology and Differential Diagnosis of Psychotic Disorders by Dr. Black. I laughed, I cried, I felt grateful to be learning amongst such thoughtful psychiatrist educators.

Evening: Attend a free reading or talk at Elliott Bay Book Company – an epic and beautiful local, independent bookshop. Earlier this summer, I saw one of my favorite fiction writers of all time. This past week, there was an amazing discussion addressing mass incarceration and the rights of incarcerated individuals.

Friday

Morning and Afternoon: Harborview!

Evening: Movie night at home vs queer dance party in the city (especially last month when Seattle was simply the best and gayest ever during Pride month).

Saturday

Morning and Afternoon: Get up, walk the dog, and go for a quick swim in Lake Washington alongside an awesome group of locals who gather every Saturday morning – all year round – to jump in the water and share some chai <3.

Evening: Chores, errands, and a dinner out with my girlfriend. The food scene here is simply *chef’s kiss*.

Clinical Rotations

• Monday: Child Autism Clinic
• Tuesday: VA Addiction Treatment Center
• Wednesday: UW Outpatient Clinic (OPC)
• Thursday: Didactics, Supervision–no clinical duties
• Friday: Harborview’s Madison HIV Clinic and UW Outpatient Clinic

How many hours on average do you work each week?

Maybe one 12-hour call shift per month.

How often do you work nights and weekends?

Definitely varies by rotation but on average, 40-50 hours/week.

Sunday

Day: Usually sleeping in, doing some laundry and yard work, might hang with some friends or see/call family.

Evening: Drive back to Seattle and get things ready for work on Monday.

Monday

Day: Wake up 0600 and chart review on patients I’ll see that day. 0800 drive to Seattle Children’s Outpatient Autism Clinic and see 1-2 new intakes (1.5-2h visits). 1200 drive home and see my afternoon follow ups remotely. 1600-1700 virtual supervision with my attending and another resident.

Evening: Gym, dinner, walk our dog with my partner; try to be in bed around 2200

Tuesday

Day: Wake up 0600 and chart review on patients I’ll see that day. 0800 drive to Seattle VA Addiction Treatment Clinic and see a mix of new intakes, follow ups, and walk-ins until supervision at 1600 where I staff those patients.

Evening: Looks like Monday, maybe a friend comes over for dinner or we go on a Costco run.

Wednesday

Day: Wake up a little later and take the light rail to UW Outpatient Clinic where I see a mix of new intakes and follow ups for med management, sometimes the afternoons are remote.

Evening: If it’s nice I might go paddle boarding with my partner or we might spend the evening reading after dinner. Otherwise, I try to make it to the gym or do something active. Probably end the night with watching some TV.

Thursday

Day: Didactics at UW NWH start at 0800 and, depending on what seminars and off ward supervision we have, go until around 1230 or 1530. The rest of the day is catching up on charting, pre charting, and trying to beat rush hour traffic back to downtown.

Evening: There’s usually always a group going to happy hour after didactics so I may or may not do that depending on what else I have going on. Get home by 1900, dinner, and maybe a walk.

Friday

Day: 0800-1200 I see a mix of new intakes, follow ups, and walking for med management at the HMC Madison (HIV) Clinic. The afternoon is back to UW OPC (sometimes remotely) for a mix of my therapy and med management patients.

Evening: My partner and I spend a lot of our weekends out of town, often to Bellingham, so we usually drive to where we’re going Friday evenings. Maybe get some food or drinks if we’re up for it.

Saturday

Day: Sometimes a call shift, but not very often. Usually, I try to get to a class at the gym at 0830, then coffee, and probably some chores around the house. In the summer we would probably be paddle boarding at the lake or on our friends’ boat.

Evening: Usually see some friends or just chill at home.

Clinical Rotations

• Monday: UW Outpatient Continuity Clinic (OPC)
• Tuesday: Seattle Children’s Autism Center
• Wednesday: UW Outpatient Clinic (OPC), Supervision
• Thursday: Didactics, Supervision–no clinical duties
• Friday: Harborview Addiction Clinic

How many hours on average do you work each week?
40 hours

How often do you work nights and weekends?
Night and weekend shifts are mostly training call shifts with interns. About 7 shifts every 6 months.

Sunday

Daytime: Sleep in, enjoy a lazy morning or go on a hike or brunch, do some grocery shopping, chores at home

Evening: Relax, dinner, prepare for the week

Monday

Morning: Head to OPC to see my patients, DBT seminar at noon, and more patients in the afternoon

Evening: Head home (if not home already in case visits were all virtual) and relax or work out

Tuesday

Morning and Afternoon: Seattle Children’s Autism Clinic, supervision with the attending in the afternoon

Evening: Doing an outdoor activity or relax and read the book for the book club with co-residents

Wednesday

Morning: OPC clinic and discussing patients at CLS with co-residents and the attending, supervision in the afternoon and working on a scholarly project

Evening: Relaxing at home or work out

Thursday

Morning and Afternoon: Didactics and supervision

Evening: Do a short walk or catch up with co-residents

Friday

Morning and Afternoon: HMC Addiction Clinic

Evening: All the fun stuff!

Saturday

Morning: Video call home and chat with family, hang out with friends or explore the city and get some pastries at Petit Pierre

Afternoon and Evening: Watch a movie, catch up with friends, or go for a bike ride

Clinical Rotations

Because of my focus on research, I purposely designed my R3 and R4 years to maximize research time. As such, during my R3 year, I’ll be doing 3.5 days of research a week (one day of continuity clinic, half-day of didactics), and during my R4 year, I’ll be doing 4 days of research a week (half-day of continuity clinic, half-day of didactics). One of the great parts about UW’s curriculum is its ability to be incredibly flexible – most co-residents won’t be doing any research at all! I extended my R2 year for two months, so I’m currently on one month of child consults followed by one month at the PBMU (child inpatient).

How many hours on average do you work each week?

• R1 year: Depending on the rotation, it could vary widely. On risk, if you weren’t called in, it was close to 20 hours a week. On inpatient medicine, it was closer to 80 hours a week. Plus, after-hours, I was building up a research program, which I spent probably 20 hours a week on, regardless of the rotation I was on.
• R2 year: Usually, a steady 50-60 hours a week regardless of the rotation, plus the 20 hours a week of research I was doing after-hours.
• R3 year (current): It’s been really pretty great! While on child consults, I work a steady 40 hours a week with occasional weekend call. Again, I typically will work after-hours on research.

How often do you work nights and weekends?
I work most weeknights and weekends on research, but that’s by choice. Unfortunately for me, I really love research and want to spend my career primarily doing research. So, in a lot of ways, it’s kind of like “play”? It’s a break from clinical duties, and I get to think actively about topics I’m interested in. I’m a glutton for punishment, I know. R3 call burden is fairly low, so I will probably end up working < 10 night shifts my R3 year (one of the amazing perks of having a large program). It will be my first year doing training calls as a trainer, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to “pay it forward” – I had amazing trainers my R1 year!

Sunday

Recovery day! Sundays are typically pretty low-key. We spend a lot of time with the dogs (which they love), and will usually be kind to ourselves as we recover from the work and play from earlier in the week. That might mean reading a couple of papers or a book, watching more than one episode of a show together, and calling both of our families over FaceTime to catch up. Since Monday is clinic day, my wife and I will typically pre-chart on our patients. If we have energy, we’ll typically get some research done as well. Rinse and repeat!

Monday

Every morning starts off with Taro, my loveable 80 pound German Shepherd, waking up and thumping his tail against the wall begging for pets. Sadly, that means I usually get up around 5 AM. Taro’s older sister Azuki—she’s a pomsky who essentially looks like a small-to-medium-sized husky—gets up begrudgingly as well, mainly to get fed before going right back to sleep. Taro, however, is more energetic, and demands ball time, so I usually walk over to Green Lake park and throw the ball around with him before heading into work. This is my continuity clinic day. I’m at the UW outpatient clinic from 8 AM – 5PM. After AM patients, I get to reward myself with a walk down University Avenue to pick up lunch from wherever I want – it’s a treat yourself kind of day. After lunch, I have supervision, then PM patients including a new-patient intake. After work, it’s dog daddy time, so my wife and I walk both of our dogs before enjoying dinner, catching up on our days, and doing some research at night before going to bed.

Tuesday

I have a full day at Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH) on the Psychiatry Consult Liaison service. After my usual doggo routine, I head into SCH and grab an iced matcha americano before interdisciplinary team rounds. SCH is incredibly collaborative – our rounds include mental health specialists, psychologists, case managers, behavioral response team members, and our psychiatry attending, fellow, and resident. We break off to see folks, finish up tasks (orders, touching base with teams, circling back to see people we missed), write notes, and clean up handoffs before heading home. Of course, the doggos need a bit of loving, so my wife and I will cuddle with and walk them, have dinner, and turn on an anime (just finished Frieren, starting Apothecary Diaries) before heading to the gym. My wife and I both lift weights, and going to the same gym keeps us motivated, even when we’re feeling tired. If we still have energy, we’ll close the night off with some research. We’re both wiped, so for some extra support, we give the doggos an extra cuddle before heading to bed.

Wednesday

Pretty similar to Tuesday. Night time activities mid-week though are usually spent recharging. We’re less likely to do research, more likely to do take-out and grab a drink somewhere. Since we live in Green Lake, we really like Toast Mi (best Banh Mi’s in Seattle – and inexpensive!) and Project 9 Brewing – both have a very casual vibe, and Project 9 allows dogs and board games! Of course, gotta give the doggos a snuggle, and heck, we might even let them hop on the bed to recharge.

Thursday

In the morning, I have didactics at the Center for Behavioral Health and Learning at UW Northwest. Depending on how badly I need tea/coffee, I’ll either drive (if I need caffeine) or bike (if I had a good nights sleep). Honestly, didactics can sometimes be tough for me, and I frequently need to caffeinate between lectures. But I also really like didactics days because our whole class gets together, and I absolutely cherish our T-group. If you haven’t heard of T-group, it’s essentially a semi-supervised hour where our class gets to talk about anything. It’s a holding space, where we collectively celebrate vulnerability, honesty, frustrations, pain, wins, and mundanity with one another. It’s residency group therapy. Afterward, I head back to SCH to finish off the day before heading to happy hour with the class, usually in Capital Hill (although we’ve been all over: Ravenna, Green Lake, Greenwood, SLU, U District, etc.).

Friday

We made it! Similar schedule to Wednesday, where I’m in SCH all-day. One difference is that I have off-ward supervision, where I meet with a Psychiatrist not currently employed by UW to talk about challenging patients or encounters with peers/staff, expand my repertoire of psychotherapy techniques, explore transference or countertransference issues that have come up in clinical scenarios, or just shoot the breeze. At night, my wife and I will usually go out for date-night so we can get some time to ourselves. We love cocktail bars, and some of our favorites include Phocific Standard Time, the Lonely Siren, and the Doctor’s Office (yes, you read that right).

Saturday

Time to run errands. After a long walk with the doggos in the morning, my wife and I will usually head over to Costco in Shoreline to pick up meal-prep essentials for the week. We’ll also stop by Asian Family Market to pick up more Asian ingredients and produce, as we cook a lot of Chinese and Korean Cuisine. Next to Asian Family Market is KiKi Bakery, which sells delicious “baos” (both sweet and savory). We’ll usually do most of our meal prep during the day on Saturday, and make sure to get a workout at the gym. At night, we’ll spend time with friends over drinks and board games.

Clinical Rotations

• Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic (OPC)
• Pain Psychiatry
  ECT
• Population Health Elective
• VA Mental Health and Justice

How many hours on average do you work each week?
40 hours

How often do you work nights and weekends?
Night and weekend shifts are mostly training call shifts with interns and new R2 residents. About 3 shifts every 6 months.

Sunday

Daytime: I like to spend time outside, going on walks, grocery shopping, and preparing meals for the week. I also hang out with my kitty Mango!!

Evening: I review patients and complete relevant readings for cases over the next week. I also catch up on emails and make a schedule for the week.

Monday

Morning and afternoon: I spend the morning completing activities for the Population Health rotation. Afternoons are spent at the Pain Psychiatry clinic where I perform evaluations for patients with chronic pain and collaborate with other health care providers to create treatment plans.

Evening: I finish notes from the day, go to the gym, eat dinner, and watch my favorite reality TV show of the season. Some weeks, I attend our resident union meetings.

Tuesday

Morning and afternoon: I spend a full day at my continuity clinic at the Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic (OPC). Some of the time is spent at home doing telehealth.

Evening: I finish notes from the day, go to the gym, and eat dinner.

Wednesday

Morning and afternoon: This is my chief admin day. I respond to emails, send reminder emails about call shifts and policies, and attend meetings with the program director and associate program directors.

Evening: I complete readings from clinics and other papers, go to the gym, and then eat dinner.

Thursday

Morning and afternoon: I spend the morning in didactics including attending T group and Noon Rapport. The afternoon is more call chief admin time. I also spend time in supervision for my psychotherapy cases and my personal psychotherapy.

Evening: I spend the evening relaxing, watching TV and movies, and eat dinner.

Friday

Morning and afternoon: I spend the morning doing ECT, TMS, and ketamine infusions. The afternoons are spent in my VA Mental Health and Justice rotation which is focused on learning about topics in forensic psychiatry.

Evening: I spend most evenings relaxing at home and making a nice meal. Sometimes I meet up with friends in town for dinner or watch the sunset at a park.

Saturday

Daytime: Sleep in then I make myself a nice breakfast. I go for a walk on the waterfront in downtown Seattle. Sometimes, I take a day trip to explore nature outside of Seattle.

Evening: Go out to dinner or a show with friends.