Vacation and Statutory Holidays
Each fellow is allowed three weeks’ vacation to be taken at the fellow’s convenience, subject to certain limitations. The limitations derive from professional responsibility, and all absences require adequate and approved coverage for responsibilities. It is recognized that, under certain circumstances, this may not be possible, in which case the request will be considered on its merits.
Requests for vacation must be submitted in writing to the program director as early as possible. The request for vacation must include a vacation form detailing the cross-coverage for the fellow’s responsibilities. Cross-covering fellows or faculty must signify their acceptance of these responsibilities by their signature.
Fellows in their third year of fellowship are required to be on site during the last two weeks of June of their final year.
Additionally, each fellow will have five consecutive days off spanning either the Christmas or New Year Holiday. Statutory holidays will be taken in accordance with the general practice of the institution. Coverage of service functions will be arranged as for weekend coverage.
The ABIM sets the acceptable duration of training. For combined Hematology and Medical Oncology, the duration is 36 months. At least 18 of the 36 months must be clinical training. The ABIM also dictates that time away from the program, vacation plus personal time plus sick time, cannot exceed one month per year of training.
There is room for some interpretation, and we have taken the stance that graduation can occur on schedule provided total time off does not exceed three months over three years. If the total time away exceeds three months, graduation will need to be delayed to meet the 33-month requirement.
Since few leaves of absence are taken in whole months, three months is considered to be 13 weeks or 65 working days.