Comparisons of methods to do call pick in specific, and/or run a residency program in general?

[Redleaves]

I looked through the forums a bit for this,and googled, but didn’t see any information. I’ve been involved in call pick in two different residencies, and both call picks were completely different. I was wondering, is there any information out there comparing call pick — pros and cons — at different residencies? I’d be interested to hear if there are any great ways to pick call, if any of them are more liked or more disliked, what their benefit are, what the cons are, etc. If anyone has any information on articles written about this, I would be very interested in reading them. Also just in general, are there any sources comparing different ways to run a residency program?

My old residency was run very poorly, and call pick was a free for all that turned in to a 6-hour-long ****show three times per year, residents became really angry at each other and sometimes held grudges, a lot of pissiness from people who felt they had been railroaded into getting more holiday call than others occurred, and someone always ended up missing a relative’s wedding, and bickering and bitterness ensued.

My current program has a MUCH better call pick with rotating priority each month, which is so much fairer, really cuts down on animosity between residents, and goes so, so much faster. However, we still seem to run in to problems occasionally, usually with keeping track of all the more minor ACGME rules, and it is definitely problematic for our program coordinator to make sure all the rules are followed. (It doesn’t help that the administration changes its mind on what ACGME rules really mean every so often and upsets the whole process.) I’m wondering if there are other ways of picking call we should look in to.

So — if you have an awesome call pick technique, or a bad one, could you let me know, and tell me what about it makes it that way?

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[RecumbentChair]

Best way in my opinion
Making a fair schedule requires picking a fair person who is willing to spend several hours picking the right call days for everyone. Balance is everything, expect all your picks to be scrutinized by everyone, rightly so.

 

[Ladholyman]

Look at Tulane Internal Medicine's system - it's a bit complicated but seems to fare the best for the residents: Tulane Internal Medicine Residency Program :: Program Information : 4+1 System

 

[Smurfette]

We had 2 people who made the call schedules for all rotations so there was no "picking". While you could submit a request for a certain day off call, there was no guarantee it would be honored. Once the call schedule was released, you could ask someone else to switch days, but that was it. If we had to sit down as a group and collectively come up with a call schedule, it would've been ugly.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

By "call pick", I assume this is a specialty where unlike in IM where you're on call every 4th night for a block, or a week of night float, that instead this is something like Derm where "someone" needs to take call every night, but it could be anyone, for any number of nights in a row. But everyone should have a fair share of weekends, holidays, etc.

If so, the answer is a scheduling program like QGenda or OpenTempo. Someone sets up the rules (how many people on call each night, what types of people i.e. do you need different PGY levels, etc), people put in their block out requests, and the system builds an even, fair call schedule.

As for "how to run a residency program", there's no right way. Many specialty societies have a handbook -- The alliance for internal medicine has a PD (? and chief resident) toolkit that goes through the basics. We also run a precourse for new PD's on a regular basis, and the ACGME might do that also.

 

[Redleaves]

Whoops, I forgot to check this after posting. Thank you everyone for answering my questions and giving me examples of your own call picks. I’m really interested to see the different administration styles between residency programs. I never realized how important and difficult administration is in a residency program. Also thank you so much for the recommendations for further reading.