Over the past decade, we have designed our programs to respect the quality of life and concerns of our residents. Baystate's night float system and call schedule along with intricate scheduling has assured that the work hour rules are followed and that there is a strong emphasis on work:life balance.
Resident Wellness
Our sense of community and friendly, supportive atmosphere goes a long way towards mitigating the burden that the practice of medicine, and especially residency training, has on wellness. Still, we recognize that you will be under considerable stress.
We measure and monitor resident wellness periodically and are pleased that we are well above the norm. But we continue to focus on ways to maximize the well-being of our community by paying attention to all aspects of wellness—physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, and financial.
All of our residents are members of our Wellness Committee, with a smaller group serving as a Steering Committee to oversee our wellness curriculum and activities. At work, you can take advantage of our OTC medicine kit available for after-hour needs—periodic pet therapy and chair massage. Another highlight is our monthly Cultural Diversity Celebration. We also host annual events such as the Holiday Gala, a ski trip, Hidden Talent Show, as well as more frequent movie nights, wine tastings, pick-up softball and soccer games—we even have teams in local leagues.
Night Call Schedule
We don’t do overnight in-house calls at UMMS Chan-Baystate. Our night teams in the MICU and CICU work 13hr shifts, the inpatient wards teams take an admission every other day, and we have a separate night float team for cross coverage and night admissions. Night cross coverage is done by an R1 ward night float team. All admissions after 8:00 p.m. are admitted by the R1 and R2 night float team. With these systems, you get an adequate amount of rest even when you are on call.
Night Float Systems
We have a well-established night float system that is designed to support our day teams and to deliver a high level of care during the overnight hours. The floats are part of an overnight team with a dedicated hospitalist who works alongside them on both admissions and cross-coverage. This support guarantees high quality education and care. The NF team is staggered to permit the day residents who are admitting leaving at a reasonable hour so they can be rested and prepared for the following day.
Flexibility in Scheduling
Residents have a variety of expected and unexpected family and personal needs that arise during medical training. We have been able to meet those special scheduling needs that occur as a result of childbearing, health problems, spouse career obligations or changes, and family crises. We are proud that a resident has never had to leave medical residency at Baystate because of financial, personal, educational, or family needs. Our residents work together with our chiefs to make certain that needs are met, and this is a unique strength of our culture of community and support.
Salary and Benefits
We have attempted to maintain salaries in the 75th percentile nationally, and here in western Massachusetts, we enjoy a lower cost of living than in major urban areas. View our complete list of salaries and benefits.
Workload Limitation and Backup
We believe it is educationally limiting and medically unsafe to ask residents to care for more patients than they believe they can manage comfortably. We limit the number of admissions to interns, the total number cared for, the frequency of night call, and the number of months on night float by providing conscientious faculty and resident support systems that are available 24 hours a day. We have graduated responsibilities that are competency-based to foster the development needed to both manage patients and to educate peers and patients.