Set up Blocks and Block Sets
Block dates in Annual Rotations Schedules are highly customizable to adapt to any residency program.
You can create as many Blocks as necessary in one Schedule to cover all possible dates that your residents will be on Rotations. However please keep the following principles in mind:
Blocks are Just Dates
Blocks are just dates (a start date and an end date) with no other meaning attached to them.
There is no reason to create different Block Sets for each Resident or for each Rotation unless your situation calls for them to have different dates.
Blocks are Grouped into Block Sets
Each Block belongs to a “Block Set” and all Blocks inside a Block Set share a common name (the name of the Set), and the same rules.
Individual Blocks can not be given a name or any special rules, so it is important to separate Blocks into Block Sets appropriately. The examples below explain how to do this.
Examples
Here are some examples of common situations and how to set them up. If your situation isn’t covered here please use the examples as a guide for how Blocks are expected to be set up in the Scheduling Tool.
Month-Long Blocks
This is the simplest situation: all Residents work the same month-long blocks.
Solution: Create a single Block Set with twelve month-long Blocks.
Please do not create a separate Block Set for each of your Rotations. This will result in a lot of wasted time and confusion later.
Month-Long Blocks and Half Blocks
In many programs Rotations can take place on half-blocks and full-length Blocks.
Solution: Create two Block Sets: one with twelve month-long Blocks as above, and one with 24 half-length Blocks.
In this case you usually want to set the half-blocks Block Set to count as half. This will help with your Tallies.
Month-Long Blocks, But Interns Start on a Different Day
In many programs junior residents are offset from the other residents. For example, most Residents will start on the first of the month (July 1) but Interns will start on the 5th (July 5).
Solution: Create two Block Sets: one with 12 Blocks that match the dates for the Interns, and one with 12 Blocks that match the dates for the other Residents.
In this situation make sure to set the “applies to” rule to the appropriate PGYs for each Block Set. This will prevent you from putting a PGY-3 on a Block that only Interns should be on.
Month-long and Half-Month, With Interns Starting on a Different Day
Solution: Create four Block Sets. One full-length and one half-length for Interns and the same again for the other Residents.
Make sure to set the “applies to” rule to the correct PGYs and “counts as” setting appropriately for each Block Set.
Week-Based Schedules
In some programs, Schedules mix Blocks of varying lengths: 2-week long, 3-week long, 4-week long, etc…
Solution: In these cases we recommend putting all 2-week long Blocks in the same Block Set, all 3-week long Blocks in the same Set, etc…
Note that it is perfectly acceptable for Blocks to overlap each-other within a Block Set. So if the 2-week long Blocks can occur each week of the year then there will be about 51 Blocks, and they will overlap.
You can specify that certain Rotations can only take place on certain Block Sets when you create Rotations.
4 + 1 Schedules
Typically used in Internal Medicine, this is a schedule in which residents alternate between 4-week long inpatient or elective Rotations and 1 week of clinic.
Solution: Create one Block Set with 4-week blocks and one with 52 week-long blocks. Create enough 4-week blocks to cover all possibilities (this means creating a 4-week block every seven days). You may also create 2- and 3-week blocks at the beginning and end of the year to fill gaps.
Make sure to specify that Clinic Rotations can only be on the week-long Block Set, while all the other Rotations should be on 4-week Block Set.
Tips
The Block Set creation dialog lets you automatically generate common Block patterns for your Block Set, such as month-long, half-month, and week-based blocks. You can drag generated Blocks with your mouse to adjust the dates.