1.       ABA REQUIREMENTS:  20 working days total per year maximum allowed leave

 

·         Includes:  vacation, sick leave, maternity leave, family emergencies, etc.

·         Sick leave is not cumulative from year to year.

·         All the time missed beyond the 20 days must be made up in order to complete the residency.

·         Absences from the residency in excess of 6 months require the resident to contact the Credentials Committee of the ABA prior to resuming residency training.  The Board feels that prolonged leaves “may have a deleterious effect upon the resident’s knowledge or clinical competence”, and therefore they may decide that additional training time in excess of the leave time may be required in order to sit for the Boards.

 

2.       VACATION

 

Each resident receives 15 days vacation/year (includes vacation and personal days).  This must be prescheduled one year in advance and in 5-day blocks.  Missing more than one week from a four-week rotation is detrimental to your training and could result in not getting credit for that rotation.

A vacation request form is provided prior to the beginning of each academic year.  The Chiefs make every effort to give each resident at least one of their requests, but you must be aware it is not always possible to honor the 1st choice for all three weeks due to scheduling conflicts.  Residents are given the opportunity to choose alternate available weeks but if the schedule is not resolved by the stated deadline of the request form, any remaining weeks will be assigned to available slots.  Residents may trade vacation weeks by completing the appropriate form and obtaining approval from chief resident(s).  Vacation days do not transfer to the next year if not taken, but will remain as accrued vacation time on pay stub and will be paid for at the end of residency.

Seniors may pre-schedule 10 days of vacation and save the remaining 5 days to use for interviews if needed.  PGY-3s may also need to save vacation days for fellowship interviews. If all days are not used by graduation, any remaining vacation time will be paid for in last paycheck.

3.       SICK LEAVE

 

Obviously, sick days are only to be used when you are too ill to perform your duties at work.  Sick days are not extra vacation days.  You must notify faculty on call if you are not coming in to work (409-747-5003) and complete a leave request form. If sick while on clinical base, you must notify the service you are rotating on and complete a leave request form and submit to Heronica Alexander.

4.       EXTENDED SICK LEAVES

 

Illnesses that require absence from the residency for a period of > 3 days must be accompanied by a letter from the physician treating the resident explaining the nature of the illness and the expected duration of the leave.

 

5.       CLINICAL BASE ATTENDANCE

 

Residents are expected to adhere to work schedules established by the clinical base service under the oversight of the Vice Chair for Education. UTMB residents may take anesthesia call and be subject to pull to the OR except on selected clinical base rotations. Residents should always be immediately available for work during work hours. Any absences from clinical base duties require completing a leave request form with proper signatures (clinical base supervisor & Program Director) and submission of form to Heronica Alexander.  

 

6.       LEAVE OF ABSENCE NOT RELATED TO ILLNESS

 

The absence must be approved by the Department Chairman, and will be handled on a case-by-case basis.  Time beyond the ABA allowable leave must be completed prior to completion of the residency.

 

7.       HUMANITARIAN MISSIONS

 

Approved time away from the OR for humanitarian missions will be divided between vacation and meeting time.  The Resident Education Account may be used to pay associated expenses.

 

8.       ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE

 

Two administrative leave days may be granted for USMLE 3 and one day for the BASIC exam after obtaining written approval from the Program Director with the Chief Resident(s) recommendation.  If these exams must be repeated, the resident must use vacation time.

YOU ARE NOT GUARANTEED TIME OFF WITHOUT AN APPROPRIATELY COMPLETED AND APPROVED LEAVE REQUEST.

 

9.   LEAVE REQUESTS AND SCHEDULE CHANGES

 

Any change to the schedule (vacation, late rooms, TDC pre-ops, call, meeting time, USMLE, sick days, etc.) requires completing the appropriate switch form and getting the indicated signatures.  Requests made after the schedule is posted will normally be denied.  Plan ahead!

 

10.   WISH BOOK

 

Please remember the “wish book” is meant to allow schedule requests to accommodate unanticipated needs for time off.  Do not abuse the system by trying to preschedule all your calls or request off every holiday.  It is a good idea to put requests in the wish book even if you have submitted a leave request form and indicate this has already been approved (i.e., USMLE 4/2-3/--, approved), in order to insure it gets on the appropriate monthly schedule.

 

GOLDEN RULE

IF IT IS NOT DOWN ON PAPER, IT IS NOT GRANTED!

 

 

 

Revised 10/2017