Days Off As A Resident

[ACHQ]

Just a question for residents out there about taking days off and vacations:

 

1) I heard religious holidays don't count towards your vacation time? True?

 

2) If you want to NOT do call a certain day(s ) cause of another commitment but are there for the regular work day how does that work? Do you still get docked a vacation day?

 

3) I heard if you are on call on a stat-holiday (i.e. thanksgiving, labor day etc...) You get a lieu day. True?

 

Thanks!

[ploughboy]

Just a question for residents out there about taking days off and vacations:

 

1) I heard religious holidays don't count towards your vacation time? True?

 

2) If you want to NOT do call a certain day(s ) cause of another commitment but are there for the regular work day how does that work? Do you still get docked a vacation day?

 

3) I heard if you are on call on a stat-holiday (i.e. thanksgiving, labor day etc...) You get a lieu day. True?

 

Thanks!

 

1) Not sure, too waspy to know.

 

2) The usual procedure is that you give the person making the call schedule a list of days that you don't want to be on call.    The earlier you do this, the fewer days you ask for, the strength of your reason for absence (if indicated), and how much the person making the schedule likes you (not kidding) will influence whether you actually wind up on call or not that day.  If you reallyl want the evening off, you should request the whole day off as either a vacation day or a professional day.  In Ontario, the province I'm most familiar with, you get four weeks of vacation which must be taken a week at a time, as well as 5 professional days which can be taken for anything and for which you technically don't have to account for what you're doing on those days. 

 

Keep in mind that the first priority of the person making the call schedule is ensuring that call is covered every night.  They can and will deny requests for vacation and professional days.  Teaching point - be very nice to the person who makes your schedule.    Also keep in mind that your fellow residents may be amenable to swapping call with you.  Be nice to them too.

 

3) True.  Most services like it if you take your lieu while you're on service.  Otherwise an ingenious resident might work Thanksgiving while on GSx, and then claim a lieu day in November from their obs-gyne rotation, a lieu day in December from their neurology rotation, a lieu day in January from their nephrology rotation, etc...

[rmorelan]

3) is true - like any employee in Canada if you work a stat holiday you get another day in liu or get paid for the day - in our particular case the contracts are for the day in liu.

 

2) if you don't want to do call certain days you can ask for them not to put you on call those days. They could refuse to do that because a) they cannot accommodate the request or b ) they don't like you (ha, really it is the former but they don't have to tell you why they cannot). Same with vacation requests - they can decline a specific week or day etc, but have to give your alternative days etc you can take off.

 

If you ask for a no call day and it is granted then you are not docked - although they will only let you do so many no call days because it is hard to schedule everything. You could ask for a vacation day isn't to more firmly (likely) get the day off BUT those are also not for sure either. Basically you don't actually have any real control over your schedule other than a chief resident that is fair etc. 

 

1) you get a fixed number of stat holidays off - which are often religious holidays etc. As I understand it if you need other days off they won't count towards your vacation time as such but you have to make those days up in some fashion still. This is to keep things fair - other wise someone would have more days off than someone else for a personal reason. I have to look up the exact wording for that, ha.

[ACHQ]

...In Ontario, the province I'm most familiar with, you get four weeks of vacation which must be taken a week at a time, as well as 5 professional days which can be taken for anything and for which you technically don't have to account for what you're doing on those days.

 

Yeah I heard you can't take off more than 1 week for given rotation block. But you can still try to organize it so your off at the end of one rotation and the beginning of another right?

 

Is it also really that hard to organize vacation time as a resident, even if you alert them well in advance?

[Lactic Folly]

Yeah I heard you can't take off more than 1 week for given rotation block. But you can still try to organize it so your off at the end of one rotation and the beginning of another right?

 

 

Except that the rotation start and end dates are the same for everyone, so you may not be the only one with the same idea. Getting your requests in early always helps though.

[ploughboy]

Yeah I heard you can't take off more than 1 week for given rotation block. But you can still try to organize it so your off at the end of one rotation and the beginning of another right?

 

Is it also really that hard to organize vacation time as a resident, even if you alert them well in advance?

 

Yes the last week/first week combo is the most reliable way to get 14-17 consecutive days off.  The earlier you request it, the more likely you are to get it.

 

But even then there are no guarantees.  It depends on how busy the service is and how many people there are to cover call.  For example, I have known since before Labor Day that I will be working on Christmas Day this year, despite having specifically asked for that day off (you can generally get one of Christmas or New Years off, and have to work the other). 

 

On the flip side, the same person has accommodated me when I've said "hey, have you made up next month's schedule yet?  I should probably take a week of vacation otherwise I won't use up all of my vacation for the year."

[ploughboy]

Is it also really that hard to organize vacation time as a resident, even if you alert them well in advance?

 

And just to address this point separately...

 

I and others have mentioned this previously, but it bears repeating.  One of the most frustrating things about being a resident is having very little control of your time and schedule.