Guest BluePin Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 During ones residency, is it possible to take periods of unpaid leave? IE. Larger chunks of time: several months - one year off, before returning? I currently work as a consultant, making more than most physicans, so if I do make the jump to med school (and particularly if I end up overseas for it), it would be nice to be able to go back to consulting for a few intervals, and get the debt sorted and / or supplement the resident income. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valentine Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 What is consulting, anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewels1986 Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 I don't think you can interrupt residency training for something like that. One lecturer told us he almost had to re-start his entire program because he'd missed a few months of training, and that was for being ill. I don't know for sure though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastalslacker Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 You can take up to a year for parental leave for each child. That's a guarantee. Everything else you'd have to negotiate with your program director. I don't think most would be too thrilled, especially in programs where you taking off for awhile would put a significantly increased call burden on your colleagues (ie surgical stuff, internal medicine). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satsuma Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 imo it would be unlikely that a program will let you leave - thereby placing increased burden on the program, including your colleagues - so you can go make some extra cash. You have to understand the pros and cons of entering medicine as well as the responsibilities and accept these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smakie Posted September 14, 2008 Report Share Posted September 14, 2008 You could always choose to enter a residency program after you're done with your consulting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satsuma Posted September 14, 2008 Report Share Posted September 14, 2008 You could always choose to enter a residency program after you're done with your consulting? If you don`t match in the year you graduate, I believe it becomes increasingly harder to match in subsequent years. I don`t see the point of taking a year off for another job honestly. It just delays the point at which you will become staff and gives you a year to get pretty rusty with your medical knowledge and technical skills. Why not consider working an extra year prior to med school...save the money and use that for med school instead of trying to take time off during training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 Might be easier in programs with less onerous call, but I've heard taking time off can be difficult even for reasons of illness in self and family. Residents have about one month of vacation time.. most medical schools have a few months off after 1st and 2nd year, so that is the most favourable time for work assignments, although that time is usually better spent in pursuit of one's future career. I agree with Satsuma that any extended leave makes you liable to become rusty in residency.. passing the board exam is on the minds of most who are about to finish! Debt is certainly a problem, but with some planning, students who go straight into medical school with undergraduate debt still make it through at the end of the road.. someone who is already making more than consultants should not be forced to take time off to supplement their income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELA Posted September 16, 2008 Report Share Posted September 16, 2008 on a similar vein....what are the options that residents have who are getting married during their first year of residency...do most programs allow you to take one or two days off after your wedding weekend? provided you take extra call or before or after the date? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted September 16, 2008 Report Share Posted September 16, 2008 on a similar vein....what are the options that residents have who are getting married during their first year of residency...do most programs allow you to take one or two days off after your wedding weekend? provided you take extra call or before or after the date? This shouldn't be a problem, as you'd have plenty of advance notice and you're not asking for a big chunk of time (hope you'd be able to get more than a couple days off for a honeymoon!) Residents do get about 4 weeks of vacation distributed throughout the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELA Posted September 16, 2008 Report Share Posted September 16, 2008 yeah I'd want more than a couple of days off after I got married. At least a week I would think. haha i was keeping my expectations low but a week would really be nice...hopefully i'll be able to work something out. does anyone know if its pretty common to get even a week off during a rotation, or is that asking for too much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I've been taking all my vacation a week at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELA Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I've been taking all my vacation a week at a time. nice thats good to know. I assume the weeks that you take off are between rotations. not in the middle of one right? well either way this is reassuring to know that i might be able to get a honey moon at least close to the date of my wedding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satsuma Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 There is no "between rotations" in residency. You will be "losing" a week of whatever rotation you are in. So you can strategically plan to miss a week of CTU or gen surg for example (would be my plan) Your week off (or however long you ask for) does need to be approved though since every resident can't take the same week off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 nice thats good to know. I assume the weeks that you take off are between rotations. not in the middle of one right? well either way this is reassuring to know that i might be able to get a honey moon at least close to the date of my wedding. Well, if you take the week off at the end of the rotation (which I've been doing), or alternately at the beginning of one, then it becomes like between rotations. People do take weeks off in the middle of rotations.. just means you can't say your goodbyes and leave.. you are coming back after a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinknoodle Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 Some schools structure vacations differently. Ie. gen surg at U of A requires that you take your 4 weeks off consecutively. Ob/gyn at Manitoba requires that you do them in 2-week blocks. At Toronto, you can do them whenever, to a max of 2 weeks in one block, if it is a 5-week rotation (1 week per 4 week rotation). Otherwise, if you want it longer, you can strategically take off one week at the end and another week at the beginning of a second rotation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELA Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 Some schools structure vacations differently. Ie. gen surg at U of A requires that you take your 4 weeks off consecutively. Ob/gyn at Manitoba requires that you do them in 2-week blocks. At Toronto, you can do them whenever, to a max of 2 weeks in one block, if it is a 5-week rotation (1 week per 4 week rotation). Otherwise, if you want it longer, you can strategically take off one week at the end and another week at the beginning of a second rotation. alright, this whole vacation time off during residency sounds alot more reasonable than i had orignally thought. One last question is that i've heard there is a restriction on taking your vacation within the first month of residency. Is there any truth to that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 It would depend if that first month is deemed especially vital by your program for some reason (eg orientation, or if you are on-service). The other issue is that vacation requests need to be approved a number of weeks in advance, so you'd need to start working on it early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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