Jeopardy Coverage
Only certain types of leave are eligible for coverage by Jeopardy resident.
Program-approved reasons for residents to request Jeopardy activation include medical illness, medical appointments or medical procedures for residents or their immediate family members, personal or family emergencies, and bereavement. The Program Administrator/Program Director may also approve Jeopardy activation to cover other programmatic and educational priorities, including time-sensitive professional development activities (for example, job interviews, fellowship interviews, certification renewals) or program administrative/educational requirements, if no other agreed-upon voluntary coverage is feasible.
At the discretion of the chief residents and the Program Director/Program Administrator, the Jeopardy resident may also be assigned longer periods of clinical duty to cover longer leaves of absence (e.g., parental leave or personal medical/caregiver leave) or administrative suspensions/departures from the program.
The Jeopardy resident will not be activated to cover routine conference travel, personal travel, non-medical personal appointments, or other types of voluntary absence. The Jeopardy resident will also not be activated to facilitate changes to the vacation schedule unless the change is necessary for an otherwise-approved purpose, such as extension of parental or medical leave. Residents should work with their co-residents to arrange voluntary coverage or a one-for-one shift trade (which can be individual shifts or whole weeks).
Please also note that the Jeopardy resident is not available as a ‘float’ to cover individuals who wish to leave their assigned shifts early for personal or social reasons. If a resident wishes to leave early for the day for reasons not identified above as program-approved for Jeopardy activation, they must negotiate appropriate pager coverage with a non-Jeopardy resident.
Voluntary Coverage and Shift Trades
For employment purposes, all rotations are classified as either a 7-day work week (6 working days + ACGME-mandated day off) or a 5-day work week (5 working days + 2 weekend days free from clinical duties). During their assigned work weeks, residents are assigned either to ‘work on site’ (e.g., clinic, wards/consults, EMG/EEG) or ‘work from home’ (e.g., jeopardy if not called in, academic half-days during clinic and elective weeks, research electives, etc.).
Academic time in particular is NOT considered time off or time free from work responsibilities. Academic time is classified as ‘work from home’ and residents are expected to use this time to meet academic and administrative obligations including computer-based training modules, administrative forms, clinic notes, inbox management, research activities, and academic self-study.
In order to preserve as much flexibility as possible for last-minute changes, residents (in their own personal discretion) are permitted to use elective time and/or academic time to provide voluntary coverage for colleagues. Residents may also use weekend days designated as “time off” (i.e., weekends during rotations using a 5-day week) to cover each other voluntarily. In some cases, this will require the resident being covered to use paid or unpaid leave to account for their absence from duty; in others it may be possible for residents to arrange a one-for-one trade that does not use vacation or other leave.
Coverage arrangements in which one resident leaves an elective or uses academic time during the work week to allow another resident to leave work entirely will invariably require the covered resident to use some form of paid or unpaid leave to account for their absence. This kind of voluntary coverage is often reciprocal but does not have to be; residents are expected to work out these arrangements between themselves and can agree to whatever feels fair to them. Voluntary coverage can involve multiple types of shifts (e.g., an arrangement in which resident A covers a day float shift for resident B, and resident B covers a night shift for resident A later in the year). Future year payback can be agreed upon informally between residents but will not be policed by the program.
Other types of voluntary coverage may be able to be arranged as a one-for-one trade. The most common examples of this are trades of entire weeks within the block schedule or trades of weekend single-day call coverage where a resident on an outpatient/clinic rotation works a weekend shift for a colleague, and the covered resident pays back for the covering resident on a future weekend during their outpatient/clinic rotation later in the year. Please note that for coverage to be considered a one-to-one trade (where neither resident is required to use vacation or other leave), there must be no net change in the number of residents working on a given day. One-for-one trades arranged between residents must take place within the same academic year due to end-of-year accounting requirements.
Voluntary coverage and one-for-one trades must be approved before coverage occurs or leave is taken. Please note that coverage arrangements that otherwise violate applicable program/GME policies or that result in an ACGME work hour violation will not be approved.
Absence Notification and Coverage Requests
Unscheduled (Urgent/Emergent) Coverage Needs
Residents who anticipate a same-day absence from shift or who will be unable to work a scheduled shift within 48-72 hours of the shift start should follow the below steps to notify the program and activate Jeopardy where appropriate.
- Residents assigned to inpatient services, call shifts, and Continuity Clinic where Jeopardy might need to be activated (i.e., VA clinic) should contact the chief resident or program representative on call for emergencies. This coverage changes weekly and is listed in the ‘Chief on Call’ tab in the block schedule spreadsheet, available in Google Sheets. Residents should not contact the Jeopardy resident directly, as there may be other coverage needs that the chiefs/program administration will need to coordinate. The chief on call will activate Jeopardy and will notify the Program Administrator and Program Director of the absence.
- Residents assigned to electives or outpatient rotations other than Continuity Clinic should call or email the Program Administrator and—for same day clinic absence—the clinic attending whose clinic they are next assigned to attend. The Program Administrator will update MedHub and notify any other attendings who need to know about the absence.
If a resident will miss their UW continuity clinic due to illness or emergency, the resident should also notify the relevant clinic staff and their continuity clinic attending as soon as possible.
- For UW clinics, residents must notify both the Program Administrator (by text/call or email) and the UW Health clinic about their absence:
- Before 6:30 am the day of absence: Call UW Health Sick Line (608-890-6750), leave a voicemail and email both the Program Administrator and the continuity clinic attending
- After 6:30 am the day of absence or if leaving clinic midday: Text Sara Nagel and email the Program Administrator and your continuity clinic attending.
For VA clinics, notify the chief on call and the Program Administrator to activate Jeopardy coverage and call the relevant VA nurse case manager as soon as possible. Clinic staff will try to reschedule return patients in particular to maintain continuity of care if possible though are limited by national VA policies restricting same-day/short-notice cancellations. The main VA clinic number is 888-478-8321, then dial x17728 for Nora Schreier or x11278 for Amanda Greeno.
Planned (Nonemergent) Absences and Coverage Needs
Any nonemergent change in the call schedule must be requested through the Shift Coverage and Jeopardy Activation form (link here) and approved by the chief residents and the Program Director/Program Administrator before the leave is taken. This includes requests for Jeopardy coverage more than 72 hours in advance and any request for changes in vacation week that occur after the block schedule is finalized for the relevant academic year.
For absences otherwise appropriate for Jeopardy activation, program administration and/or the chief residents may work to facilitate block assignment or shift trades where possible to preserve Jeopardy capacity for emergencies. If a trade or other coverage is directly arranged by the program, arrangements will always be reciprocal and will attempt to be equitable for all involved residents. In rare cases, reciprocity may involve program-approved adjustments to future-year block schedules to ensure equity in the block assignments or the number of weekends/call shifts worked.
For absences not appropriate for Jeopardy activation, coverage ultimately cannot be guaranteed. Co-residents are not required to agree to voluntary coverage or one-for-one trades for these types of absences. Residents working to negotiate coverage are free to consult the chief residents or program administration about potential arrangements if they need clarification regarding program policies, voluntary coverage and shift trades or if they are unsure if a particular type of absence is Jeopardy-appropriate.
We strongly recommend that residents not book travel or make other nonrefundable financial commitments before receiving formal approval for a schedule change.
Latest revision: 06/01/2025
Natalie Wheeler, MD
