Residents

General Page for Ophthalmology Residency

Policies

Vacation Requests

• Rules

  • Maximum of 20 vacation days (= 4 weeks) off per PGY year (does not roll over to next year)

    • Only weekend days count as vacation days, see below for weekend requests

    • Please note that vacation days will need to be used for conferences and interview dates that fall on a weekday

    • It is preferred that vacation be taken a week at a time rather than non-consecutive days (exception: conferences, interviews)

    • Each request should be at least 3 weeks apart (exception: conferences, interviews)

    • Taking 2 consecutive weeks of vacation is discouraged, given the increase in call burden for the requesting resident and co-residents. Exceptions would need to be discussed with the Chief Resident and Program Director.

  • Vacations must be split between sites based on time spent at each site (i.e. PGY-3 spend 75% of their time at UCI/GHEI and 25% of their time at VA = 15 vacation days while on UCI/GHEI block and 5 vacation days while on VA block) 

  • UCI/ GHEI: at most, one senior (PGY-4) and one junior (PGY-3 and PGY-2) off at a time

  • LBVA: at most, only one resident off at a time (including seniors and juniors - unless it is for an interview date or conference)

  • Blackout Dates: February*, March (before OKAPS), last 2 weeks of June, whole month of July, Consult Block**, Bench to Bedside Symposium (~May), GHEI Colloquium (~September)

    • *Exceptions can be made if previously discussed and cleared with other juniors splitting primary call 

    • **Exceptions can be made if a co-resident is willing to cover you on consult block, however, please try to limit this to a few days, not a whole week as we do not want to lose this privilege 

    • ***Exact dates will be announced as the dates approach, but it is on a weekend, you may need to adjust vacation requests

  • All requests are to be submitted 90 days before the 1st day of requested time off

    • Anything less requires department chair approval, exceptions will be made for incoming PGY-2 during transition period

• Request Logistics

  • Check with other residents at your rotation site to ensure the week is available (priority goes to more senior residents)

  • Submit your vacation requests on Medhub 

    • If you do not have medhub access yet, please email the vacation request form (attached above) and send it to Dr. Lu, Pauline, and the Chief Resident. 

  • Add your vacation dates to the shared Call Schedule Spreadsheet (above) in the column "Vacation/ Requests" so the junior making the call schedule can make the appropriate changes to the call schedule

    • We will automatically not put you on call the weekends before and after your requested vacation; however, if multiple people are requesting the same time off this may not be possible in which we will reach out to you directly to discuss

  • Approval of your vacation request will be noted in medhub under absence request history as "approved" as well as in our Call Schedule Spreadsheet (above) under the locked "Vacation Countdown" tab that pauline will update when approved

  • Please wait for final approval in MedHub from the program director before making any final plans

  • If you change your vacation, obtain Chief Resident approval via email and let Pauline and Dr. Lu know

  • For UCI PAV2 resident clinic, please check about 1 month before your tentative vacation that the corresponding clinics have been appropriately downbooked to accommodate for your absence. 

    • If vacation requests are made 90 days in advance, typically clinics can be downbooked in time but you still need to check.

    •  If it is not, please dot to color code which patients are appropriate to downbook with suggested alternative times to move the patients in the previsit planning tab. Then alert the chief resident, Marlen, and Pauline with the color coding that you created so that they can appropriately move the patients.

    • This does not apply to VA resident clinic because the clinic is not downbooked

  • When planning vacation as GHEI senior, you must coordinate with your surgery schedulers that they do not schedule surgery, preop or postops during that time. Also notify the fellows and attendings in advance and remind them of your upcoming vacation.

  • When planning vacation as a LBVA senior, you must coordinate with your co-senior and attendings staffing the case to have OR coverage of who will cover your OR day. Also try to move the post-op appts to after your vacation.

Call Schedule Requests

• • The call schedule will be made by the PGY-3 on Research Block each month 

  • Requests to not be on call on certain dates should be made on the Call Schedule Spreadsheet (above), and the PGY-3 assigned will try their best to accommodate the request. Please try to be considerate in requests (~1-2 weekend dates per month) 

    • As mentioned above, flanking weekends around vacation requests will be honored as long as the vacation dates are notated on the Call Schedule Spreadsheet (above)

    • Typically, requests are only made for weekend dates, if you need a weekday night off, usually you can easily switch later

  • Tentative Call Schedule will be made by the 1st Sunday the month before for everyone to review 

    • Please aim to have your requests in before this date 

  • Final Call Schedule will be submitted to Pauline/ Jorge by the 3rd Sunday the month before to be published to qgenda 

    • Please notify the PGY-3 assigned if there are any changes to the call schedule you would like done before this date 

  • If there is an urgent change after the call schedule has been published, after discussing with the PGY-3, you will need to email Pauline and Jorge to have them change the published call schedule 

  • If the change is very last minute you can also call the operator to add yourself to the assigned person's pager number so you will get the pages that evening/ weekend

Sick Days

• As of 2023, you are allowed 12 Sick days per PGY year (does not roll over to next year)

• Must inform Program Coordinator, Chief Resident, Clinic Manager and Supervising faculty attending when you are out sick – a doctor’s note is required on the 3rd (consecutive day) sick day out.

Resources

• UCI Wellness Resource Guide