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