Medicine AI (Med 140.01) Attendance/Absence Procedure

Students are guaranteed 4 days off on the Medicine AI, which is a 28-day rotation, with Sunday being the last day of the rotation. 

Requesting specific days or changing days off: AIs’ days off are scheduled in a way that minimizes the impact of the student's absence on the team and patients, and helps students adhere to work hours rules. (See Clinical Hours Policy) At most sites this means the student’s days off will be the same as the senior resident’s, which is also important for students’ continuity with their resident and ensures that a student is not admitting alone without resident backup. If a student wants to request a specific day off, the student should contact the site director for their assigned site at least 4 weeks in advance of the start of the rotation to see if they can be assigned to a team where the requested day off aligns with the call schedule (not on call or post-call). Requests to have different days off once teams have been assigned usually cannot be accommodated, due to the impacts outlined above; students who wish at that point to change the days from the assigned days must discuss this with the site director, not solely the team, before making any changes. 

Extra days off: Students may request up to 1 additional day off for important academic or personal matters (2 days for residency interviews), but these requests must be made at least 4 weeks in advance of the start of the rotation and can only be accommodated if the site director is able to place the student on a team where the requested days off align with the team's call schedule (no call or post-call days off) to minimize impact on patients and team. Even if census is light or the team offers a student an extra day off, students may NOT take additional days without approval of the site director. Note that the rotation’s assessment is fully competency-based, so any additional days off may impact a student’s ability to achieve or demonstrate competencies and could impact the student’s assessment. 

Grouping days off: Having multiple days off in a row impacts patient care, student learning, work hours adherence, and team continuity. Students may not have more than 2 consecutive days off.  

Students who need more or different days off than what is outlined above will need to reschedule the rotation. If an urgent need to reschedule the rotation arises after the course drop deadline, please contact the course director (Dr. Lynnea Mills), who will make every effort to grant these requests if there is availability for the future rotation.