Making up time for a funeral?

[mimi1]

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I'm pretty upset about this. My grandma died this past weekend and so now I need to miss 2 days of my family med rotation so that I can attend her funeral. With less than 2 weeks left in the rotation, the clerkship director is making me make-up one day that I will be missing. He says that this is the "policy". I understand the importance of policies, but I have a bit problem with doing things just for the sake of policy when in reality they are not particularly beneficial. If I wanted to miss days to attend a wedding or something like that...I could understand making it up. This is a situation that was not planned and I have no control over it. I could also understand making up the time if this was the beginning of the clerkship, but I have only a few days left. This is already a difficult, stressful situation and it is only being made worse. I am honestly not going to gain much more from seeing 5-6 more patients. And I know if I make any sort of argument or comment, that I will be considered "unprofessional". Ugh! Just need to vent...

What is the policy like at your school? Are there special exceptions for funerals etc?

 

[DebDynamite]

I had the same thing happen on my OBGYN rotation. Except I have to make up a 3 day week. It's a pain, but it's better than a stricter policy, I guess. I have to make up the time in my senior year. It may even end up that I make it up AFTER I match. Won't I be a great MS3 at that point? Ha.

The stress of third year may be getting to you at this point- think of all of the absurd things we have already had to do thus far, and consider it water under the bridge. That's how I cope.

Although, come to think of it, I would rather my school have the policy of providing an obituary (my name was in it, after all) instead of the makeup days. Providing an obituary is just about as absurd a request as having us make up one or two days for a funeral.

 

[njbmd]

What is the policy like at your school? Are there special exceptions for funerals etc?

For a funeral of an immediate family member (parent, grandparent, sibling, child, person who raised you even if not related), we would get minimum 3 days (more if distant travel) and no make up involved. When one of our fellow classmates committed suicide, we all (the entire class) got 2 days off to attend the funeral. If it had been located at a more distant location, we would likely have gotten more time.

Sorry for your loss. 🙁

 

[Pinner Doc]

I'm sorry for your loss. My grandmother is in end stage renal failure and we're told there's not much time left, either... consequently, I'm familiar with our school's policy... if you miss more than 5 days of a rotation, you make up the entire rotation. Otherwise, you can miss up to those 5 days.

 

[Bertelman]

At our school, it seemed to be based on the whims of the individual clerkship.

 

[Badger1978]

I am sorry to hear about your loss. My father died unexpectedly in September and I had to miss the final week of a clerkship. At my school, the clerkship directors decide what is necessary to complete their clerkships. I will be making up my week in January. People have been nice about giving me time to make it up, but they are adamant that I complete the week. I guess it is just something else I need to check off my to-do list before graduating in May...

 

[nala]

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother. One of my classmates' grandmothers also died recently, and he had to make up the 1 day that he missed. I thought it was silly that they made him come in on another weekend just to make up that 1 day.

 

[Iwy Em Hotep]

I remember when I started my surgery rotation that we would only get time off for a funeral if it was our own. 🙄