On-Call and Vacation
On-Call Duty, Duty Hours, Vacation, Offsite Training, and Moonlighting – Policies and Guidelines
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 6 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
In addition, at the Dartmouth Neurology Residency, every-other-night call (q2) is NOT permitted.
Chief resident responsibilities include creating a 1 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 4 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 the 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.
