Resident Vacation Policy, Plastic Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee

Resident Vacation Policy

University policy allows three weeks of vacation time for all residents and fellows beyond the first post-graduate year. In keeping with this policy, the Department of Plastic Surgery will allow 21 days of vacation time during each academic year, July 1 through June 30. Traditionally, each resident has been relieved of clinical duties for 5 working days during the period of Christmas/New Year's Holiday. This policy will continue, and specific dates will be arranged by the chief resident to allow for equal distribution of these vacation days. These 5 vacation days will be subtracted from the total of the 21 days, leaving 16 days of vacation time. Regarding these remaining 16 days, the following policies will apply: No more than 8 consecutive days may be taken at any time. Shorter blocks of time may be taken from any 1 clinical service during the academic year. During the first year, the entire 8 months on the Vanderbilt service, although divided, will be considered as 1 clinical rotation.

Requests for vacation time will be made in writing through Jammie and must be approved by the Chief of Service. The administrative chief resident must be made aware of these requests. There will be no routine vacations taken during the last two weeks of June, the first two weeks of July, or in December. Requests for specific vacation time should be requested as early as possible, no later than one month prior to scheduled departure, in order to allow adequate time for scheduling of the remaining residents to assure adequate coverage. No two residents on the Vanderbilt rotation may be on vacation at any one time.

Each resident will be sent to one national meeting during each academic year. The second-year residents will be sent to the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The first-year residents will attend the annual meeting of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. Residents will also be allowed to participate in any other approved scientific meeting in which they have a paper or presentation accepted. Prior to submission of abstracts to any such meeting, however, the abstract will have to be reviewed and endorsed by the Chief of the Department of Plastic Surgery. Absences for attending any of the above described meetings will not count as vacation time, but will be considered additional educational time away from the service. Expenses for these meetings are covered within the departmental guidelines for resident travel.

Residents may choose to attend other meetings at their own expense, but these absences will require the resident taking a portion of his allotted vacation time and will be subject to the same stipulations as previously described.

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