Communication

Program leadership, clinical professionals, and other important contacts need to be able to reach you. It is your responsibility to maintain adequate lines of communication with the people you work.

Email

You will receive crucial communications from your program leadership, employer (Parkland), and others through your email. All residents have a @UTSouthwestern.edu as well as a @PHHS.org and @VA.gov email address. We recommend using your @UTSouthwestern.edu email as your primary email address and to have your @PHHS.org email forwarded to your primary email account (it is also possible to have 2 mailboxes on your Outlook mobile app. See the Knowledge Center for details). Email is an essential part of modern work, and it is expected that you will check your email regularly and respond to emails promptly and professionally.

EMR Inbaskets

EMR messaging systems (EPIC Inbasket, CPRS notification system, MyChart) are powerful tools that connect healthcare professionals with each other and their patients. This increased accessibility creates increased responsibility (and liability) on the part of physicians. Therefore, it is imperative that you check your inbaskets regularly to ensure that important test results, patient inquiries, or staff messages are not missed.

To mitigate the burden of checking inbaskets while on inpatient services, the UTSWIM program assigns “Shared Practices” in each continuity clinic to ensure that someon

or otherwise urgent notifications. When you are in your continuity clinic during your +1 week, it is your responsibility to check not only your inbasket but your shared inbaskets daily, not just during your assigned Inbasket/Paperwork half day.

However, even on inpatient services, important information regarding patients admitted to your team is routed to your inbasket.

• Verbal orders from RNs and others are sent to your inbasket for signature and must be signed within 24h of the order being placed
• Unsigned notes and other missing documentation notifications will be routed to your inbasket. Notes must be signed promptly (see section on “Documentation” below)

Pagers

Your pager should be on and functioning any time you are assigned clinical responsibilities and when you are designated as EROC/EIOC/Jeopardy. Always return pages in a timely manner as information relayed via page can significantly impact patient care.

Compliance

As a physician, you will need to maintain your professional licensure and hospital accredidation for the rest of your career. Residency is like any other job you will have in healthcare in that you must complete any and all assigned paperwork, training modules, or other credentialing mandated by your employer(s).

A complete list of initial onboarding requirements and annual compliance requirements can be found in the Credentialing, Compliance, & Onboarding section of this handbook.

Failure to complete all compliance requirements by the assigned time will result in consequences including but not limited to termination of your privileges at the hospital(s) and consequent forfeiture of PTO while re-certifying.

Documentation

Specific expectations about when things have to be done. DC summaries, progress notes, 3M documentation queries, etc. Note written for every date. H&P only counts if after midnight, etc.

Dress Code

In general, we recommend dressing in professional attire in the outpatient setting. In the inpatient setting, you may choose to wear either scrubs or professional clothing.

Any individual attending's rule about attire, which may be communicated to you before the rotation starts, take precedent over the above recommendations.

Duty Hours

Duty hours, including all clinical (to include moonlighting) and academic activities related to the residency program must conform to the following by ACGME mandate:

• Residents are not to exceed 80 hours/week averaged over a four-week period.
• 1 day in 7 free from educational/ responsibilities averaged over a four-week period.
• Continuous on-site duty is not to exceed 24 hours + 4 additional hours to facilitate patient care.
• Time spent on moonlighting counts toward the 80 hour/week limit.
• For complete details, ACGME guidelines are available on the ACGME website – acgme.org
• We take work hour violations very seriously. If you are having any problems meeting these requirements, please notify the Chief Residents early; we can help eliminate obstacles to duty hour compliance. · It is MANDATORY that you log all duty hours (MedHub)
  • Lock Out: Trainees have two weeks in which to document duty hours. After this period, residents are “locked out” and will not be allowed to submit work hours on MedHub. Lockout occurs at 12:01am EST Sunday morning for the previous week.
  • One Week Reminder: Trainees that have failed to log any duty hours for the prior week will be reminded by email and alert on their Medhub home page.
  • Please note that the Education Office is unable to assist with unlocking duty hours once the lockout period has passed. Please make every effort to submit your hours.
  • ResQ is available for download in the app store/play store. Please note that while it can track hours, you must still manually submit those hours on MedHub to be counted

Anyone who does not have 90% of work hours logged appropriately will not be permitted to moonlight (new requests will not be accepted and existing privileges will be revoked).

Punctuality

Failure to report to work on time affects your patients, your colleagues, and your own learning. Tardiness will not be tolerated. Expected arrival and departure times from specific clinical duties are outlined in the Rotations and Clinics sections of the website. If you have concerns about your ability to arrive to work on time due to unforeseen circumstances, reach out to the other members of your team, your clinic’s director, and/or your Chief Residents to make sure patient care is not impacted.

Professionalism Violations

Any violation of the expectations set forth above will result in professional consequences. The UTSWIM Program reserves the right to take action as incentive to correct unprofessional behavior as Program Leadership sees fit. These actions can include, but are not limited to, revocation of moonlighting privileges, assignment of additional clinical responsibilities, assignment of educational modules, referral to a career coach, and/or consultation with the Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) for remediation. The CCC has the authority to recommend a formal Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), the record of which will follow a physician for the remainder of his/her career.