Faculty attempting to terminate resident. Should they stay or resign?

[_EndlesslyThankful]

Hello am asking on behalf of a colleague having issues at their program and wishing to remain anonymous. They are in their final year of training but are at risk of termination. They have received several threats of an adverse action against them and have considered placing a letter of resignation for fear of having a termination on their record. Issue is that it is a very small specialty and with resignation it would be exceedingly difficult to find an open position in the final year at another program. They are also in a tough place being that it is clear that the faculty does not favor them and they have no allies at the program to rely on for guidance/support/direction. Does anyone have insight on how one might best navigate this situation?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DrMetal]

Hello am asking on behalf of a colleague

Of course . . .

Hello am asking on behalf of a colleague having issues at their program and wishing to remain anonymous. They are in their final year of training but are at risk of termination. They have received several threats of an adverse action against them and have considered placing a letter of resignation for fear of having a termination on their record. Issue is that it is a very small specialty and with resignation it would be exceedingly difficult to find an open position in the final year at another program. They are also in a tough place being that it is clear that the faculty does not favor them and they have no allies at the program to rely on for guidance/support/direction. Does anyone have insight on how one might best navigate this situation?

What's the nature of the offense? Sexual harassment, grand larceny, or forgot to replete a potassium of 3.2 ?

 

[guytakingboards]

Easiest things for all parties involved is for the trainee to keep his/her head down and graduate in 6 months. If the trainee doesn’t have any problems currently documented on their record, they are a long way from being terminated.

Like most SDN posts of this nature, the story seems incredibly incomplete. Rarely does a trainee make it this far into training (about to graduate) having burned every bridge.

 

[BorntobeDO?]

I had a fellow resident that kept screwing up in his final year, would disappear for long periods of time and be unreachable, would refuse patients and claimed he staffed about it when he didnt, general dirtbag teamate, lots of integrity questions etc. Some of faculty and residents wanted him to not graduate, but he was pushed through anyway cause it was punishment for everyone else he worked with if he repeated stuff. If that guy could make it, I think your friend just needs to keep on trucking and do the best he can. They will either graduate him or they wont. He just needs to control all he can on his end and leave the rest alone.

 

[GoSpursGo]

With 6mo to go, you can’t resign. Termination would be bad but any chance to finish is worth it with this little time left unless they are explicitly told that they need to resign or lose a supportive LOR for future training.

 

[operaman]

Definitely worth trying to graduate if at all possible. I see no upside to resigning honestly, even with a supportive LoR.

I will say that this is one area where I’ve seen legal representation help, though obviously this is the nuclear option. Terminating a resident in their last year is highly unusual and generally needs some incredibly compelling reason.

If this is more a case of poor performance that is just now being acted on, there could be a role for legal representation. Presumably this person has 3-4 years of good evaluations allowing them to get to the end of training. I’ve seen one case of a chief that lawyered up and alleged discrimination for the last minute issues and the program reluctantly allowed her to finish. I don’t know of anyone that’s actually prevailed in such a case, but the threat of litigation may be enough to win the day. All of this depends on the actual story and the paper trail. If you’re about to be fired at the end of training, there’s not much to lose by fighting it.

 

[Iamnew2]

Hello am asking on behalf of a colleague having issues at their program and wishing to remain anonymous. They are in their final year of training but are at risk of termination. They have received several threats of an adverse action against them and have considered placing a letter of resignation for fear of having a termination on their record. Issue is that it is a very small specialty and with resignation it would be exceedingly difficult to find an open position in the final year at another program. They are also in a tough place being that it is clear that the faculty does not favor them and they have no allies at the program to rely on for guidance/support/direction. Does anyone have insight on how one might best navigate this situation?

We try to be hlepful however this is way too vague. It's not uncommon that faculty don't like a certain resident. Happens in every program in every specialty in every state. Question is - what if anything is the issue w the resident and the "threats" or adverse action?
If it's something minor - probably not a big deal given the 6 months remaining. If it's something serious - then that's a different story. Your "colleague" should provide more info if your "colleague" wants us to help.

 

[Mass Effect]

Hello am asking on behalf of a colleague having issues at their program and wishing to remain anonymous. They are in their final year of training but are at risk of termination. They have received several threats of an adverse action against them and have considered placing a letter of resignation for fear of having a termination on their record. Issue is that it is a very small specialty and with resignation it would be exceedingly difficult to find an open position in the final year at another program. They are also in a tough place being that it is clear that the faculty does not favor them and they have no allies at the program to rely on for guidance/support/direction. Does anyone have insight on how one might best navigate this situation?

Too vague to offer meaningful advice, but your colleague likely has a lot of issues. No one gets to their last year of residency without having any allies in the program. Out of all the rotations this person did, they didn't maintain a relationship with anyone? There's no one who would be helpful? That's usually suggestive of performance issues all along. If they were an intern or PGY 2 this would make more sense.

 

[Mass Effect]

Couldn’t disagree more with literally all of this. Maybe this holds true for supportive and collegial programs. But for those of entrenched in malignant toxic programs the opposite of what you state is accurate throughout

While malignant programs exist, the majority of these cases are due to resident issues, not program issues. I'd argue that any resident who has been at a program for at least 3.5 years and has no relationship with any faculty or mentors is likely not disclosing something about their own performance or deficiencies.

 

[deleted50541]

While malignant programs exist, the majority of these cases are due to resident issues, not program issues. I'd argue that any resident who has been at a program for at least 3.5 years and has no relationship with any faculty or mentors is likely not disclosing something about their own performance or deficiencies.

This was the case with a resident in my program. This person had been caught lying several times as an intern to their seniors and attendings. It wasn't even about major things, but they were called out on it and yet continued to do it. As time went on, this person never really gained the trust and respect of his colleagues. I never saw any purposeful malignant behavior by residents or staff against them, but this person constantly complained that "everyone was out to get them".

I worked with this person on a rotation as a PGY-3 and they would disappear for hours at a time. Didn't help with clinic, wasn't helping with floor work and consults. I'm surprised they made it that far, but they were ultimately terminated at the end of their third year. Last I heard, this person had gotten a PGY-4 position out of state and completed their residency.