Resident Working Environment and Scheduling

Each ward has a physician work room designated for the ward teams. In each room, there are computers for each resident on the team, as well as desk phones, pediatric textbooks, a refrigerator, general office/physical exam supplies, whiteboards and a water cooler. There are two call rooms attached to each ward’s physician work room. These are furnished with a bed, telephones, computers, TV and include adjacent bathroom facilities.

CHLA uses Cerner as its EMR. The AltaMed General Pediatrics Clinic where residents have their continuity clinic uses EPIC. Computers in the clinic and computers in the hospital have access to both EMRs. Residents can access these EMRs remotely from their personal devices as well.

Days Off/Vacation

In general, CHLA interns and residents are off on weekend days that they are not on call. During call-free electives, selectives and outpatient rotations, all weekends and holidays are off.

  • During the PGY-1 year, there are five weeks of vacation/personal time.
  • During the PGY-2 and 3 years, there are four weeks of vacation/personal time.
  • All residents on inpatient call rotations also have four to five consecutive days of holiday vacation time during the Christmas or New Year's holiday. During this time, half of the residents will work on Christmas and the other half will work on New Year's. Residents on call-free rotations have both holidays off.

We also observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

Back-up Call

Our back-up call system is designed to provide coverage for clinical duties when an assigned resident is unable to do so on short notice. Calling for back-up coverage may be utilized in many circumstances, including but not limited to physical and psychological health, family emergencies/illnesses or to provide additional resident support in the hospital. As a resident, it can be challenging to balance self-care, work obligations and the desire to not burden colleagues. To encourage appropriate non-punitive use of our back-up system, there is no threshold at which shifts must be repaid.

PGY-1 residents are on back-up call for a total of two weeks in their first year. PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents are on a tiered back-up call system for one month each year, divided into two two-week blocks. Our system has redundancy in place to ensure adequate coverage for any emergencies or illnesses that may arise. Additionally, our large residency program allows us to easily provide coverage when needed for extended absences or medical leave.