Length of ICU rotations:
The McGill Critical Care Resident Training Committee recommends that the minimal scheduled duration for an ICU rotation for Junior Residents should be 8-weeks. Four-week rotations are not considered adequate for pedagogical reasons. They do not allow the resident enough clinical exposure and teaching in order to become comfortable and competent with recognition and management of critically ill patients. Furthermore, four-week rotations do not allow enough time for a reliable evaluation of the resident's performance. Please note that section 3.12 of the document " Evaluation and Promotion in Postgraduate Training Programs" of the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University states "In order to meet pedagogical requirements, a resident should not miss more than ¼ of a rotation due to illness, conference leave, vacation, etc. A rotation which includes less than ¾ of the expected time commitment, may be considered INCOMPLETE. This guideline will be strictly adhered to for all ICU rotations.
Vacation requests:
Vacation is discouraged during four-week rotations for reasons stated in paragraph 1. We realize that residents are often discouraged from taking vacation from multiple other rotations as well and thus a strict rule to forbid vacation during the ICU is not practical. We recommend that Residents and their Program Directors look at other alternatives for vacation before requesting vacation during an ICU rotation. In cases where Residents are scheduled for longer periods than four weeks, vacations are considered depending upon the duration of the vacation/ICU rotation length and the adequacy of clinical coverage. All vacation requests should be made to the ICU Director at least two months in advance and should be supported by a letter from the Resident's Program Director. Vacation requests will be granted at the discretion of the ICU Director of each site.
Vacation requests should be directed to:
Dr Peter Goldberg, Director, RVH ICU
Room L3.06, RVH
Telephone extension 34646
Email: peter.goldberg [at] muhc.mcgill.ca
Dr Ash Gursahaney, Director, MGH ICU
Room D11.152, MGH
Telephone extension 43255
Email: ash.gursahaney [at] muhc.mcgill.ca
Antonietta Maglio, Critical Care, JGH
Telephone: 340-7500
Email: amaglio [at] icu.jgh.mcgill.ca
Study time and conference leave:
A letter from the Resident's Program Director should support both of these requests. Requests must be made at least two months prior. Requests should be directed to the same contact individuals as listed above for vacation requests. Requests will be granted at the discretion of the ICU Director.
Call schedule:
Article 12 will be respected. The maximum number of calls a resident should expect per rotation is 6 (5 if one week is taken off for vacation, conference leave, etc.) A minimum of four nights on call will be required for the rotation to be considered "complete". If possible we will try to accommodate all specific call schedule requests. However, no requests for specific nights off the call schedule can be guaranteed. The different wants of the residents and exigencies of call make a guarantee to that effect impossible.
Call schedule requests should be directed to the same contact persons as for vacations. Please note that at the RVH the call schedules are made by the Chief Medical Resident (Silver service) and the Chief Surgical Resident (Red service) with final approval from Dr Goldberg.
Weekly program teaching rounds:
Residents will be excused from clinical duties in order to attend regularly scheduled teaching organized by their base programs. However, they will be expected to return to the ICU in a timely fashion once teaching rounds are over. Furthermore, it is the individual resident's responsibility to ensure that their patient's are adequately stable and appropriately signed-over to a colleague before leaving the unit. Patient safety always takes priority over teaching sessions.