Vacation Time
Fellows are given four weeks of vacation over the course of the year, which includes two weeks for conferences and interviews (with approval from the Chief of Service). Vacation schedules must be coordinated. Only one fellow, one senior resident, or one junior resident may be away at any given time. Personal days such as for job interviews and family issues require prior approval. All requests for vacation need to be put in writing to the Residency Coordinator.
Leave of Absences
Leaves of absence for the fellows are evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the Program Director. Absences are granted for up to two months (includes vacation time) out of the 12-month Fellowship Program. Fellows will be allowed to make up one month of their Fellowship Program at the discretion of the Program Director.
Stress Monitoring
Fellows can access confidential counseling, medical and psychological support services by listing sites for services on the NYU School Of Medicine ResWeb which contains a number of general resources for the fellows.
House Staff Salary, Leave, & Terms and Conditions of Employment' is found on the House Staff Affairs website.
Moonlighting
During the fellowship, moonlighting is not permitted.
Evaluations
Fellows receive continuous feedback from the Fellowship Director and attendings throughout the program. Fellows are formally evaluated at end of each rotation by all teaching faculty of the spine service. A faculty-only evaluation meeting is held to review all department fellows with the Chair. The fellows receive a written evaluation of their performance half way through the program, called semi-annual evaluations. The second evaluation is performed at the end of the 12-month program. In addition, an Exit Interview with the fellows is performed at the end of the Fellowship Program. Fellows similarly are encouraged to provide input throughout the program to the Program Director. An Exit Interview for fellows is performed at the end of the Fellowship Program.
At the end of the program, fellows fill out a written evaluation rating individual faculty, staff and various aspects of the program. This feedback is reviewed by the Department Chairman and forwarded anonymously to the faculty. The outcomes from the fellow evaluations are reviewed and discussed with each faculty member.