what's the deal with these?
one program I interviewed at the resident said their department "encourages" them to use at least one of these per month for "emotional well being", can it really be this good?
are sick days just additional vacation days?
highly specialty and program dependent, assuming this is an actual unicorn and not just a lie
Sick days are NOT just additional vacation days. I don't suggest using sick days to EVER extend your other types of leave unless there is a culture of doing so at your program. ("Sick" day people take before Step 3 like at my program)
The rules between them and personal days are very different typically. Emotional wellness days to my knowledge are a different category as well.
Sick days can be added to leave like paternity leave, or other FMLA leave, usually, and are paid. Sick days are usually subject to program approval and may have stipulations like you getting a provider's note to return to work Some programs don't bother. Approval would obviously be retroactive in some cases of sudden illness and missing work.
Sick days can be used in advance for say, say an elective chole surg. It can be scheduled and known in advance, but you might need more than two days off in a row in the month to do it! And you can't be expected to put it off forever, you're suffering and could have an actual emergency if don't do it before residency's end, or sooner, lol. No one would really blame you taking off for this although if you are able to coordinate program needs with your own, great.
This would be different than needed time for routine health maintenance like some dental and medical appointments. The expectation is typically to use your time off and that using sick days here wouldn't make sense, but it's been known to happen. It is highly program dependent the culture around sick days.
These wouldn't necessarily be personal days, although often if you have something going on in life and need more than what sick days can give you, personal days may often be used as well. After what sick days and personal days can give you, things tend to be either FMLA (not eligible for legally until after 1 year of employment, some states have some version of these laws that can kick in sooner. Many programs might still use these forms when you request leave, and some may use the FMLA laws as their operating standard while you're in your intern year, although in that case it would be by choice of the program, not by law)
Some boards (I think this is ACGME rules actually) make it clear that vacation days and the pay from them, can be used to supplement sick leave, if the reason for the leave is medical the vacation days can't be "used up" this way.
Meaning, say you have to take 2 mo LOA and your sick leave and personal days amount to 10 days paid leave, we can add in your 4 weeks vacation pay and the rest of the leave could be approved by the program as unpaid. You still get your weeks off for the year, even though you'll have to make up that LOA time and extend your grad date. That vacation time is sacrosanct from your medical leave except financially.
Personal days, when not used to supplement other types of leave, can be more or less regulated. Often there are "professional development days," type personal days, that are paid, and are specifically for boards like Step 3, attending professional conferences, presenting posters. Often this is the case, although it's possible to take a personal day to attend a medical appt you can't schedule for a better time, or a host of things you might need a day for.
Some programs/employer, the personal day can be used however you wish, with no reason given, provided you follow whatever rules are in place about notice and coverage in getting these days.
Other programs where you have to give a reason as part of your approval, you sort of have to cough up a reason the culture of your program thinks is OK. Sometimes your LDR-cuz-couples-match-sucks SO finally can make it to town and you want an extra day, and that flies. My program was cool with this because the request for coverage was made to the program and someone volunteered when it wouldn't be a work hours violation to fill in for them. Some would be OK using this day for dental work.
days for "emotional well -being" - I would treat these similar to sick days, honestly. I would make them medical in nature.
if you are getting monthly emotional well-being days - I would use them tighter than I would personal days. while I'm all for HIPAA, I think on a personal moral ethical level if I wouldn't feel like a good person and or like my own reason is one I would respect coming from a colleague for ducking out of work for one day, I wouldn't use one
ie "emotional well being" - I just really needed to sleep in after having one too many last night!
vs
"I needed dental work and it was the only decent opening for 3 months"
"my cat needed to go to vet, she was puking the last 3 days, I was really worried"
"I needed to see my psychiatrist, not that I'd tell anyone that was what I did"
"I finally got that urethral discharge looked at, man that was starting to chafe!"
"OK yes, I needed it to sleep, but dangerous stuff was starting to happen, I totaled the side of my car this week, got a needlestick, ordered a 1000 U insulin that pharmacy caught, and fell asleep at the wheel for just a second! No I have not been drinking!"
I don't think personal days should be used willy nilly either. Professional reasons.
I think being a professional applies 24/7 except for talking too much about sex and your personal life in an anonymous forum.
TLDR
Before I get slammed for thinking I know it all,
I will say that it seems to be no secret that I am familiar with illness and residency
all of the above I learned reading my own contract, working with HR and PD directly around every single one of the types of leave I just discussed, sick days, vacation, personal days, unpaid leave, employee wellness, and leave that was program-approved but was not FMLA covered, so I learned about FMLA. I will say I had a chance to get more familiar with ADA law as well. I also researched a lot on SDN
