A leave of absence will be granted based on established GME, Regions Hospital policies and in compliance with applicable state and federal law.

According to current ABEM guidelines, Emergency Medicine residents may be absent from the program for up to six weeks per year, including vacation time, without extending their training period.

When a resident must emergently miss an ED shift, the "back-up" resident will cover. If the absent resident will miss more than three shifts, the "pull" resident will cover beginning on day four.

Back-up:

Residents are assigned to back-up call in the ED based on the number of call days divided by the total number of second and third year residents. The assignments must be in compliance with the RRC requirement of allowing 1 day off in 7.

Back-up starts with the night shift (11p-7a) preceding the assigned back-up date, e.g., night shift 8/1 is covered by the back-up resident assigned to 8/2.

The back-up resident will cover up to 3 shifts per occurrence, maximum 5 days per month.

If the assigned back-up resident cannot be located and another resident is called in to cover, the assigned back-up resident (NOT the resident on leave) will pay back 2 shifts to the resident who came in. No payback is mandated for the resident taking the leave.

Pull:

When possible, residents at the same training level (or higher) will cover for extended resident absences.

If possible, the absent resident's shifts will be covered by schedule reassignments made by the chief residents in consultation with the program directors. Residents working Junior Faculty shifts could cover this leave.

A resident will be pulled from another service to cover ED shifts beginning with day 4 of an absence or when the above mechanism cannot cover the absent resident's shifts. G2 and G3 residents will be pulled one week at a time in the following service order: Toxicology, Selective, North, Elective.

G1's will be pulled one week at a time in the following service order: EMS, Anesthesia, OB, Cards.

If the resident pulled to cover is also the "back-up" resident, back-up will be reassigned.

Attempts to pay back lost service time to the "pull" resident will be made depending on resident desire and amount of time lost.