When Life Gets in the Way: Helping Support Residents that Need to Take Leave During Residency
Residency itself is challenging, and when residents also have major life events occur during training, they may feel completely overwhelmed. Chief residents are frequently the first point of contact for residents who are experiencing major life changes. For a chief resident who recently was or is currently a trainee, these conversations can be difficult. If a resident needs to take extended leave, it can shift additional clinical responsibilities to other residents which may lead to resentment toward the resident and the chiefs. Furthermore, chief residents are just learning the leadership skills needed to effectively navigate these situations. However, with a well-organized and thoughtful approach, chiefs can successfully support a resident in crisis, foster a team mindset within the program, and address all of the administrative tasks necessary to allow residents to take extended leave.
During this workshop, we will first share a communication framework for providing compassion and respect when communicating with a resident in distress. Next, we will describe real-life scenarios that our chief residents have encountered, including parental leave, medical emergencies, family emergencies, and others. Participants will approach these scenarios using a roadmap we have developed to help chief residents tactfully maneuver these situations. We will review relevant national policies around parental, medical, and caregiver leave, share institutional examples of leave policies, list important faculty and staff who need to be involved in the process, and finally, provide a checklist to help the chiefs and the resident address all of the necessary administrative tasks needed for extended leave.
During this workshop, we will first share a communication framework for providing compassion and respect when communicating with a resident in distress. Next, we will describe real-life scenarios that our chief residents have encountered, including parental leave, medical emergencies, family emergencies, and others. Participants will approach these scenarios using a roadmap we have developed to help chief residents tactfully maneuver these situations. We will review relevant national policies around parental, medical, and caregiver leave, share institutional examples of leave policies, list important faculty and staff who need to be involved in the process, and finally, provide a checklist to help the chiefs and the resident address all of the necessary administrative tasks needed for extended leave.