Can a hospital do this?

[JelloBrain]

I have read a lot about people being terminated by residency programs for various reasons, but I was wondering if there ever might be a situation when a hospital terminates a resident's employment while s/he is in good standing in his/her program? If so, what situations might these be? And will the program not intervene on your behalf?

I have a reason to ask this seemingly bizarre question that I shall explain based on responses I receive. I was always under the impression that academic departments are quite autonomous in their hiring/firing capability, and hospitals usually go along with such decisions as long as all paperwork is appropriate.

I look forward to responses from experienced SDNers-my alarm bells are going off wildly.

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[VA Hopeful Dr]

I have read a lot about people being terminated by residency programs for various reasons, but I was wondering if there ever might be a situation when a hospital terminates a resident's employment while s/he is in good standing in his/her program? If so, what situations might these be? And will the program not intervene on your behalf?

I have a reason to ask this seemingly bizarre question that I shall explain based on responses I receive. I was always under the impression that academic departments are quite autonomous in their hiring/firing capability, and hospitals usually go along with such decisions as long as all paperwork is appropriate.

I look forward to responses from experienced SDNers-my alarm bells are going off wildly.

Depends on who pays your salary. That said, the hospital can always take away your privileges which is as good as firing you.

 

[JelloBrain]

Depends on who pays your salary. That said, the hospital can always take away your privileges which is as good as firing you.

Who pays a resident's salary? I thought it was federal funds that departments get for each resident they appoint.

And do residents have "privileges"? I thought privileges are for Faculty.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

A hospital can definitely do this. A good example would be a failed drug test, or inappropriate access to a medical record. If a resident did something like this, I would have some say over it -- inappropriate record access would clearly be a professionalism issue, and I might decide to put the resident on probation and come up with a remediation plan. However, if the hospital decided to revoke the resident's record access (because of a zero tolerance policy, for example) then they would be out of luck. I could try to negotaite with the hospital admin, of course.

 

[JelloBrain]

Thanks aPD. Someone wanted my advice on research options in such a situation-program happy, but hospital terminated employment-and I was worried that either that's untrue, or something really bad had gone down. The latter turned out to be true, though I am unaware of all versions of the story. I doubt any research options would be a feasibility in this case, at least AFAIK, and have advised accordingly.

Just out of curiosity, how could/would/should this issue be addressed if the protagonist chooses to reapply for a match via ERAS, given how difficult it is to get second chances for residencies?

 

[maceo]

A hospital can definitely do this. A good example would be a failed drug test, or inappropriate access to a medical record. If a resident did something like this, I would have some say over it -- inappropriate record access would clearly be a professionalism issue, and I might decide to put the resident on probation and come up with a remediation plan. However, if the hospital decided to revoke the resident's record access (because of a zero tolerance policy, for example) then they would be out of luck. I could try to negotaite with the hospital admin, of course.

a tad harsh dont you think a prog director

 

[NotAProgDirector]

a tad harsh dont you think a prog director

I'm not exactly sure what you mean -- am I being harsh, or are these hospital policies harsh?

I'll assume the latter, and that's debatable. For example, my institution has a no drug use policy. Everyone is tested upon hiring for drug use. This is announced in the application process. If you match with us, you then are tested. It's not a surprise test -- you know it's coming, and exactly when. A few years ago, an incoming intern (not my program) failed it. They retested it with HPLC (to ensure it's a real positive), it was confirmed, and she was not hired. Her PD wanted to make an exception for her. The hospital refused. They felt that, given all the notice involved, if you couldn't pass the test then you clearly have a substance problem. Is this really too harsh?

 

[JelloBrain]

aPD-Could you kindly answer my query as well please? If someone has a failed drug test or some other zero-tolerance issue as a flag, is there any chance they will ever be able to get back into a residency? Thanks.

 

[gutonc]

aPD-Could you kindly answer my query as well please? If someone has a failed drug test or some other zero-tolerance issue as a flag, is there any chance they will ever be able to get back into a residency? Thanks.

There's always a chance. It may asymptotically approach zero, but it still exists.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

aPD-Could you kindly answer my query as well please? If someone has a failed drug test or some other zero-tolerance issue as a flag, is there any chance they will ever be able to get back into a residency? Thanks.

Of course it's possible. The person that failed the drug test got in the next year again -- the program liked them and they did what they needed to fix their drug problem. It all depends on how "bad" the problem was, what the rest of the person's application looks like, and how they address the problem.

 

[turquoiseblue]

here's an example: i was in good standing at a program, according to my PD, which he also wrote on a letter, so that part is set in stone--i had medical leave for 2 months and then wasn't allowed to return to finish my 2 months i missed... as to why? the world may never know....they just said they didn't want to have me finish it up during a new year....but i saw other people that got to finish up during my year....

go figure...