Golden weekend frequency at non-block schedule programs?

[GreyOwlery]

I was trying to suss out the frequency of golden weekends at a few of my programs. Curious for some family logistical reasons and I felt uncomfortable emailing program contacts just to ask this. I completely forgot to ask how frequently I might actually get a weekend off when I visited a few programs, since pretty much everyone had block scheduling.

Is there a typical frequency of golden weekends at non-block programs that anyone could quote me as an estimate? Like maybe every 8 wks on average? Or if you happen to know about a specific program, the places I'm wondering about are: Madison (Wisconsin), Cincinnati, Dartmouth, and Brown.

Thank you!

Edit: I'm a med student going into IM!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted392989]

What do you mean by non-block? Like 4+1, 4+2, etc... or the traditional 4 weeks with 1 session of 1/2 day clinic each week and jumping straight into the next rotation at the end of those 4 weeks?

With the traditional 4 wks + 1/2 day clinic weekly, you don't get guaranteed weekends off between blocks. It depends on the elective you're on that month.
With 4+1, you get a guaranteed golden weekend every 5th week.

You can always email the chief resident or any resident the program provided you contact info with 🙂

 

[GreyOwlery]

By non-block, I meant the traditional way - with 1/2 day weekly clinic. I understand that you don't get guaranteed golden weekends off as regularly with the traditional schedule and that's not a problem for me at all. But I never thought to ask if that meant I should plan for stretches of like 3-4 months without a golden weekend.

 

[deleted392989]

Yeah with the traditional schedule, you could be stuck doing 2-3 rotations in a row without any guaranteed weekends off... maybe a Saturday or Sunday here and there. It really depends on how they schedule your rotations/electives. Worst case scenario would be going 3+ months straight of floors/ICU/night float , working 6 days a week. This is why 4+1 and etc are much better schedules.

 

[gutonc]

I did residency before the advent of the block system and had 1 golden weekend (on inpatient service) total during residency. But during my outpatient/consult months I had 3-4 golden weekends a month.

 

[the argus]

It totally depends on the program. Some programs that still have the traditional model give a golden weekend during each floor month, but it comes with the cost of a black weekend and you end up working 12-13 days straight during the month. Programs also often have different schedule structures for interns vs residents, so what is true first year won't be true 2nd and 3rd.

 

[Crayola227]

you need to ask

it's neuro, but I know someone whose program was set up that for the entire 4 years they would NEVER have a golden weekend

another program promised 2-3 golden weekends a month... for the whole residency

I would ask as low on the food chain as possible, but even asking the chief is fine, maybe slip in a couple of other questions that show interest in the program educationally or whatever

if you need help with filler questions, I googled "questions to ask residency programs" just so I would never be short on questions to ask (even helpful!)

 

[GreyOwlery]

Thanks guys. And thanks for the great tip Crayola.

 

[URHere]

I can tell you a little about Cinci:

For IM, your days off aren't generally scheduled for you - you work them out with the rest of your team at the start of the rotation. You're generally on call every 4 days and the rule is that you can't take off on call days or post-call days...so on hospital medicine months, that leaves maybe one weekend a month when ONE team member can take off. There will be random 2 day stretches mid-week where other team members could take off if they wanted to (note: this can be hard to arrange because of clinic schedules and didactics).

It's a little bit easier on specialty rotations where each person takes call solo instead of as a team because your call days will be staggered. There are a small handful of rotations that do schedule your days off and they generally schedule a golden for just about everyone. For the most part, it really depends on what you work out with your other teammates.

Personally, I've never scheduled myself a golden on IM...just because the idea of working 14+ consecutive days in exchange wasn't appealing to me.

 

[GreyOwlery]

Wow yeah... 14+ days is one heck of a trade off. But nice to know how it works. Thank you so much!

 

[Raryn]

It really is variable. Our interns didn't have a block schedule (only PGY2/3) but my program prioritized golden weekends. So for a 28-day inpatient block you'd work either 12 on 2 off 12 on 2 off or you'd work 5 on 2 off 12 on 2 off 7 on. Every single rotation, all of the interns days off were golden weekends unless they traded amongst themselves.

PGY2/3 had a lot more single days off here and there depending on the call schedule.

 

[HoldTheCoffee]

My residency program had the traditional scheduling instead of a 4+x schedule. Golden weekends pretty much never happened on the inpatient months (because most rotations were q2 call). I usually would get a random weekday off depending on the schedule

That being said, I had a ton of golden weekends when I was on consults (though not all of them) and on outpatient blocks. It wasn't too bad. The other consideration is that sometimes it's actually better to get weekdays off since more businesses are open on the weekdays so I generally tried to avoid getting a weekend day. Of course if you have kids or a spouse, then getting the weekend off means much more

 

[disorder]

2 goldens during intern year. probably 20-30 during r2 and r3 (each).