Internal Medicine Stipends, Leave, & Benefits

Resident Stipend Scale 2010-2011

Parental Leave
Parental leave (maternity and paternity) is available to residents for the birth or adoption of a child or foster care placement. Annual leave, sick leave, and holidays may be used in order that salary may be continued.  Any additional leave requested would be without pay. Residents, as employees of the University of Tennessee, are entitled to the provisions of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.  This legislation states that the leave may extend up to twelve weeks.  The resident must give reasonable notice (30 days when the need for leave is foreseeable).  The Residency Program Director is responsible for determining whether the time off (in excess of vacation and holidays) would need to be made up at the end of training in accordance with board certification requirements.  The make-up time, if required, would be with pay.

Holidays
Residents are granted the eight holidays observed by the University, depending on the clinical requirements of the rotation to which the resident is being assigned:

New Year's Day
Martin Luther King's Birthday
Good Friday
Memorial Day
Independence Day (July 4th)
Labor Day
Thanksgiving (2 days)
Christmas Day

Sick Leave
Residents may be paid for up to 21 sick days within a year (four weeks and one day); however, these cannot be carried over from year to year. A Program Director may request a physician's statement for periods of sick leave. A resident may not be paid for unused sick leave at the end of the year. The determination as to whether or not the resident will be required to make up time missed due to Sick Leave will be made by the Program Director, in accordance with residency requirements and board certification requirements

Other Benefits

Vacation, Educational Travel Reimbursement, Book Reimbursement, etc.
In addition to three weeks vacation and holiday leave observed by the University, our Internal Medicine Residency Program grants each resident five personal days during the residency.  In addition to the three weeks vacation an holidays observed by the University, the Internal Medicine provides each resident with several days of holiday leave in late December or early January.  Residents also have five personal days off with proper scheduling.  The residency program scrupulously follows the Residency Review Committee guidelines requiring at least one day in seven, on average, completely free from clinical duties.

Vacations can be scheduled for a maximum of one week in duration, except that in the second year a longer vacation period of up to 2 ½ weeks can be scheduled if desired by selecting an ER rotation and sub-specialty rotation during consecutive months.

The program also gives all residents the opportunity to attend an outside conference each year (up to a maximum of five days). Erlanger reimburses resident conference and travel expenses and educational books and journals. Given available funding, residents will be reimbursed as follows: PGY1 $500; PGY2 $1000; PGY3 $1500 each year for both conference travel, educational books or other electronic media or journals and/or registration for the USMLE Step3, in accordance with UT Travel Guidelines.  Also, since the institution requires that a resident pass USMLE Step 3 before a resident can be promoted to the PGY-3 level, Erlanger will reimburse the registration cost for the exam as part of the annual funds.  Original receipts for all expenses must be submitted within 30 days of the conference or expense to the Internal Medicine Residency Coordinator.  The Internal Medicine Foundation provides other educational travel benefits.

The program also provides access for each resident to the American College of Physicians MKSAP (Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program) as well as numerous medical textbooks both in print and online through the Erlanger Medical Library.  More than 100 medical journals are available electronically as well as "Up To Date."  The library's resources can be accessed from home as well as all clinical units.