Could I be fired/suspended from residency?

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chitown2012

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You're at the tail end of residency. I think it's unlikely unless there's a pattern of concerning behavior that any significant repercussions come from this. If I was your chief I would be checking in primarily from a supportive standpoint. Ultimately your action impacted another resident in that they had to work when they may have had their own stresses going on. That type of behavior is not sustainable and thus is not ok overall... But I would be sympathetic toward a 37 WGA pregnant resident in a LDR in the midst of a pandemic just finishing an ICU block and primarily concerned with their overall wellbeing
 
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I think you're unlikely to be fired over this. But you do see the problem you created. You were on sick call. You knew the chance of getting called in was high. You didn't even try to switch it because you thought no one would switch with you. Then you were needed and said you couldn't work. This then leaves the chief in a really tough spot -- they now need to call someone else, and when that person checks the schedule and says "why can't chitown2012 do it?", that's a really tough discussion (if you have a 1st sick, 2nd sick, etc).

That said, your program isn't blameless here. Scheduling women at 37 weeks pregnancy for sick call isn't the smartest move, you could deliver at any moment and need sick coverage yourself.

Go into the meeting understanding that you put the chief in a potentially difficult position, and be apologetic. If possible, it would be great to offer to somehow "make it up" to the other person affected -- but that may be impossible with your training coming to an end but perhaps still an option. It's possible that the other person heard your predicament and was willing to help. It's also possible that their one weekend with their SO is now ruined.
 
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You're at the tail end of residency. I think it's unlikely unless there's a pattern of concerning behavior that any significant repercussions come from this. If I was your chief I would be checking in primarily from a supportive standpoint. Ultimately your action impacted another resident in that they had to work when they may have had their own stresses going on. That type of behavior is not sustainable and thus is not ok overall... But I would be sympathetic toward a 37 WGA pregnant resident in a LDR in the midst of a pandemic just finishing an ICU block and primarily concerned with their overall wellbeing
What I neglected to add is that I did end up working a sick call shift, just before the weekend. Th chief needed coverage for 3 shifts in a row (Thurs - Sat night) shifts. I did end up sick call working the Thurs shift, essentially doing a 24 hour, and the other resident who was also already scheduled for sick call took the Fri and Sat shifts. That resident was going to be doing either Thurs & Fri or Fri & Sat. The chief hadn't asked me to do the Thurs night shift because I had already worked during the day.
 
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I think you're unlikely to be fired over this. But you do see the problem you created. You were on sick call. You knew the chance of getting called in was high. You didn't even try to switch it because you thought no one would switch with you. Then you were needed and said you couldn't work. This then leaves the chief in a really tough spot -- they now need to call someone else, and when that person checks the schedule and says "why can't chitown2012 do it?", that's a really tough discussion (if you have a 1st sick, 2nd sick, etc).

That said, your program isn't blameless here. Scheduling women at 37 weeks pregnancy for sick call isn't the smartest move, you could deliver at any moment and need sick coverage yourself.

Go into the meeting understanding that you put the chief in a potentially difficult position, and be apologetic. If possible, it would be great to offer to somehow "make it up" to the other person affected -- but that may be impossible with your training coming to an end but perhaps still an option. It's possible that the other person heard your predicament and was willing to help. It's also possible that their one weekend with their SO is now ruined.
I understand I put the chief in a tough spot. What I didn't elaborate on in my post is that I did end up working a sick call shift. There were 3 shifts that needed coverage Thurs - Sat, and the chief was able to arrange it so I took the Thurs shift and the other resident already on sick call took the Fri and Sat shift.
The chief then decided to take me off sick call for the weekend and added another resident as back up, who ended up not being call in, but who had to be on sick call none the less.
 
Sounds like the impact was small. If possible, I'd consider "doing something nice" for the person who ended up being added into sick call. Whether that's taking some of their future sick call, or baking them cookies, is up to you.
 
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