On-Call and Vacation Policies
On-call duty
Residents in the Dartmouth Neurology Residency Training Program will be expected to take on-call duty since it is an integral component of their training.
Residents are on call for the DHMC neurology service one in every 5-6 days while in their PG2 year, one in 6-8 days during PG3 year and one in 15 days during the PG 4 year.
General duty hours policies
ACGME regulations regarding duty hour limits are strictly adhered to as follows:
- Call scheduled no more than every third night averaged over four weeks
- One (24-hour) day in seven free of patient care averaged over four weeks
- Limit of 80 duty hours per week averaged over four weeks
- 24-hour limit on continuous duty, up to 4 hours for transfer, debriefing, didactic activities
- A 10-hour minimum rest between duty periods
- In-hospital hours during call from home count toward 80-hour limit
- In-house moonlighting counted in weekly hours
- Every-other-night call (q2) in this residency is not permitted.
- Chief resident responsibilities include creating a one-year on-call schedule. The Program Coordinator or Program Director must approve all call schedules and changes in call schedule. The Program Director must approve any moonlighting.
- Longitudinal clinic duties for post-call residents will not include evaluation of new patients in the morning after a night on call.
- If a weekend day after call duty involves in-hospital work, that day will not be counted as a day off that month. If this will result in less than four completely free days off that month, a weekday off will be granted to the resident.
Policy for vacations and off-site training
Each resident in the DHMC Neurology Training Program is granted three weeks per year of paid vacation. Vacation is expected to be taken when the resident is not on duty for inpatient or consult services. Off-site CME of high value (national meetings, presentation of research, etc.) will be allowed up to five additional days away per year in addition to the three weeks of paid vacation.
