Night and Reserve Schedule

Residents will have scheduled night rotations when they are on certain inpatient rotations (general floor, PICU, and NICU). Night rotations are usually 12-13 hours in duration. We do NOT have any 24-hour call at any level of residency training. Night rotations are always completed with an attending present in-house if acute patient problems arise. Residents will usually have four to seven night shifts scheduled together on a given four-week rotation. PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents will also have a float rotation (LBJ for PGY-2 and Memorial Hermann for PGY-3) in which they provide night coverage for these locations for three to four weeks out of the year.

Residents who are “on call” are said to be “on reserve.” Residents are scheduled to be on reserve for a certain period of time during the year, and this is usually when they are on less time-intensive rotations. While on reserve, residents must be within an hour of the medical center to help cover for sick or otherwise absent residents. The chief residents keep track of how often residents are calling in sick or being called in to cover for others, and they attempt to fairly distribute calling residents in to provide coverage.