How often are you on call as a resident at your program?

[Psych_Fo_Life]

Hello everyone! (Please vote in the poll!)

I'm just curiuos how often you are on call at your Psych program. I wanted to get a better feel for other programs as the compared to mine just out of curiousity and also wanting to give our administration some feedback. At our program we take call as first year all year long except for rotations that don't allow it like the one month of internal medicine.

1st year: short call twice a month for 6 hour shifts, long call twice a month on weekends for 12 hour shifts. We cover the C/L service, psych units, and the ER during our shift and work with an attending.

2nd year: (I'm a first year so...) I believe it is similar to 1st year: with one less long call shift during the week so we get may 2 short calls and 1 long call per month.

3rd year: no call

4th year: no call

Thanks everyone for any comments!

Psych_Fo_Life

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[eastcoastdr]

intern year: about 1 short call per week (4 hour shift), and about 2-3 weekend shifts per month (12 hours).
Not sure about 2nd years. I know they have about 1 24-hour shift during the weekend per month. Probably 1 or 2 short calls per week.
Third and fourth years only take call if they are moonlighting - meaning they help out with any admissions. Intern or 2nd year still has to manage the floor even when there's a moonlighter present.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

The interns at the program I graduated from are now on short call twice a week and a 12 hour Sunday call ~every other week when on inpatient psychiatry services, which is 6 months of the year. However, they're not on call for the two months of neuro, one month of EM (although you definitely work weekend and evening shifts) and one month of ambulatory medicine. So I answered more than 40 hours, but that's only for half the year.

I trained at a front loaded program, and it's hard the first two years. However, two years of no call sounds pretty nice. It's hard to keep sight of that, though, when you're in the primary call pool.

 

[Mass Effect]

I'm feeling rather grateful for my program right now. No short call. We work one Saturday or Sunday (not both) shift once a month in first year (12 hours) and we have to do two non-consecutive weeks of nightfloat (8 pm - 8 am).

Other than that, we take turns on back-up sick call so if someone calls in sick, we have to work their shift, but that's it.

 

[TexasPhysician]

PGY 1-2 take home call. No in house work.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I'm feeling rather grateful for my program right now. No short call. We work one Saturday or Sunday (not both) shift once a month in first year (12 hours) and we have to do two non-consecutive weeks of nightfloat (8 pm - 8 am).

Other than that, we take turns on back-up sick call so if someone calls in sick, we have to work their shift, but that's it.

How many residents do you have in the call pool and how many spots do you have to cover?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

PGY 1-2 take home call. No in house work.

Do they have to go in for admissions? There's home call where you can cover almost everything by phone, and then there's home call where you have the same responsibilities as in-house call yet you can leave the hospital during downtimes. IMO, big difference between the two.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Do they have to go in for admissions? There's home call where you can cover almost everything by phone, and then there's home call where you have the same responsibilities as in-house call yet you can leave the hospital during downtimes. IMO, big difference between the two.

No

 

[Jalapeño King]

At our program we do a couple of 12-hour shifts per month in the psychiatric ER or seeing new admissions on the inpatient units. The total call hours per month are on the lighter side, but we also continue to take call in the 3rd and 4th years, so I guess it evens out. The ER shifts for 1st and 2nd years are typically overnight, while the 3rd and 4th years get the day shifts.

 

[GoSpursGo14]

Our program has the most PGY-4 call in the nation, which was 20 twenty hour hour calls. We are heavy loaded for PGY2-4 years, and our interns are not allowed to see new patients alone or do overnights.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Our program has the most PGY-4 call in the nation, which was 20 twenty hour hour calls. We are heavy loaded for PGY2-4 years, and our interns are not allowed to see new patients alone or do overnights.

What did you think about that? I think I might have hated it.

 

[Dean_Does_Happen]

We take 12-16 hour calls mostly every weekend or sometimes every other weekend in a very busy non-stop psych ER. We do two weeks of 5PM to 8AM night floats, one week at a time. When in psych ER, you just work 12 or 16 hour straight without any break time. It is even worse than the Medical ER. Poor 2nd and 3rd years take 24 hour calls in the same psych ER! During the interviews, other residents kept telling us how chill call was in this program, we could sleep during half of it and BS like that. Some of you guys are really luck. It seems you have some chill call schedules. I am sick and tired of 16 and 12 hour calls in an ER setting. It is simply too much. What's worse is that we have to take psych calls on non-psych months too.

 

[st2205]

Our program has the most PGY-4 call in the nation, which was 20 twenty hour hour calls. We are heavy loaded for PGY2-4 years, and our interns are not allowed to see new patients alone or do overnights.

Your program was rather elusive about this on interview and would never talk about it. I like the diversity of experiences and the city, but that call schedule...

 

[PhinyGage]

1st yr: 2 2 week blocks of nightfloat, 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, and about 6 weekend day shifts in the Psych ER over 6 months. Medicine/Neuro half is variable but generally much less than the Psych Half.

2nd yr: About 27 mandatory in-house 24 hours shifts in the VA PsychER and 25 home-calls that require work the next day if you didn't get paged after 2am (never happens). Always went in to admit a patient, always felt pressured to work the next day....

3rd yr: 14 days total of 14 hour overnight intern supervision

4th yr: repeat 3rd yr

Well known program with a well known workhorse reputation. Just dont need to work this hard to learn good Psychiatry...