call summary

First Year:

During your four months of internal medicine, either at Newton Wellesley Hospital, or at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Faulkner Hospital the call schedule is as follows:

Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Faulkner Hospital:

  • 12-14 weeks of general medicine wards split between at Faulkner and BWH (to be made up of general medicine, cardiology, and/or oncology)

  • Up to 4 weeks of ICU with every 3rd day overnight call

Newton Wellesley Hospital

  • Approximately 8 weeks of medicine wards (general medicine, oncology, and/or cardiology). During this rotation, residents admit every other day, and have one day off per weekend.

  • 4 weeks of ICU

  • 4 weeks of “night float” block in 2 sets of 6 shifts for total of 12 shifts, as well as 1 week of vacation, and 1 week of back-up ("sick pull”)

  • 2 weeks of a half-block of one of the above (e.g., night float or Medicine)

During the 8 months doing Inpatient Psychiatry, Emergency Psychiatry, Neurology, and Addiction Psychiatry there will be a night float system. Residents on their ED rotation cover 5-6 of the nights/week of call. Both weekend days and 1-2 nights per week are covered by the group of residents rotating on inpatient psychiatry, neurology, and addictions. On call responsibilities for PGY1s are coverage of the BI inpatient psychiatric unit (admitting new patients and dealing with any acute issues for current patients), as well as helping see patients in the emergency room, under the supervision of the PGY2 resident.

Second Year:

PGY2 call covers BIDMC (ER patients, CL urgent consults, inpatient admissions, and backup of PGY1 covering the inpatient unit for current patients) and Faulkne weekend days (emergency room, inpatient unit (admissions and current patients), and consult service).

Our residents spend 2 months when residents are on the Elective/Night Float, they will have alternating blocks of night float and elective time, with a total of 3-4 weeks (5 nights at a time) of night float over the 2 month period. When residents are on the inpatient unit at BIDMC or Children’s Hospital, they will cover BIDMC weekend days and nights (24 hour shifts).

As of January 2015, we have instituted a night float system to cover the Faulkner Hospital. In this new system, residents do 3-4 weeks of night float coverage when assigned to the Faulkner rotation, and cover weekends and holidays, in 24-hour shifts, over the full 6 months that they are assigned to Faulkner and Mass Mental Health Center.

With the new system, residents will average about 7 weeks of night float per year and a little under 2 call days per month.

Third Year:

For all 12 months, residents are on call overnight (and, on weekends and holidays, for 24 hour periods) roughly q15 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. They cover the emergency room and the consult service. There is no inpatient psych unit to cover. During the second half of the year, they may also function as the senior back-up on call (as described under Fourth Year below).

Fourth Year:

For all 12 months, residents are on call from home roughly q15. They serve as back-up resident to all three clinical sites, and are themselves backed-up by an attending on call (one attending each from BIDMC, BWH, and Faulkner). The other residents on call will page the PGY4 for clinical advice on difficult cases. If a resident becomes overwhelmed with work, they may call in the back-up resident, no questions asked.

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PGY2s, 3s, and 4s also participate in teaching calls for their junior colleagues during the summer.