Days Off, Absences, and Sick Days

Days Off

• 1 day off in 7 is an LCME requirement. 
• Preferred day off is a weekend when possible.
• Days off cannot be taken when the team is on-call or post-call.
• If your team is on-call on Saturday (therefore post-call on Sunday), a weekday off is acceptable, but you are not excused from mandatory clerkship activities
• All students on a team may take the same day off, but this is ultimately left to the discretion of the attending.
• You do not need to take a whole day off for things like doctor’s/dentist appt. Just notify and work it out with your team to miss some of the afternoon.
• 1 day off in 7 (LCME requirement)
• Unexcused absences will count against Professionalism score
  

Absences

• Unexcused absences will result in failure of the Clerkship. The only person who can officially excuse students from clinical and academic duties is Dr. Kahn.
• The student is expected to notify the ward team, Leigh-Ann Sallis (lsallis) and Dr. Chakraborti (cchakrab) of any absences.
• Prior to starting the clerkship, you should have received an opportunity to notify the clerkship coordinator of any planned absences (weddings, etc.) so that you could be preferentially placed in the subspecialty two weeks during this time.
• Absences (i.e. CHIT days) count against days off for the rotation. Any student who misses more than three (3) days will be expected to make-up clinical time after the clerkship. Weekend absences on subspecialty weeks do not count (but missing a Friday or a Monday will count).
• At the discretion of clerkship leadership, students who are excused in advance (i.e. wedding, scientific meeting, etc.) for more than TWO DAYS from the clerkship may be required to submit a 1000 word essay on a topic related to medicine to be determined by the clerkship director. This must be completed by the day of the shelf exam to pass the clerkship.

• Students who miss a call day or post-call day are required to perform an additional make up work at the discretion of the clerkship director. This must be completed on time to pass the clerkship. Professionalism may also be affected.
• If a student misses more than one day and a call night, he or she must submit both the essay and perform an additional student presentation.

Sick Days

• If a student becomes ill, the student is responsible for contacting their medical team and Dr. Chakraborti as soon as possible. A CHIT form is required when well. If a student is ill for two or more days, the student must provide a physician’s note. Days taken for illnesses are subtracted from total number of days off. Students who fall ill are expected to adhere to the same make-up requirements (including missed calls) as students with excused absences in advance.
• Extenuating circumstances may result in the forgiveness of any make-up work from absence caused by illness (or other family/personal issue), but this will be at the discretion of the clerkship director.
• Any other absence situation not described above will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Consequences (if any) will be assessed at the discretion of the clerkship leadership.