Implementation of Flexible Days Off Improves Surgical Resident Attendance of Personal Health Appointments, Perceived Wellbeing, and Sense of Control.

Objective: Surgical resident schedules are demanding. Despite ACGME requirements that residents be able to attend personal appointments, many residents put off essential health tasks due to work hours. We designed a method for surgical residents to request a "flex" or personal day utilizing an online system for requesting and tracking.
Design: Residents were given 5 days to use during 1 academic year. A float rotation was implemented to cover scheduled absences. We conducted an anonymous REDCap survey pre and postimplementation regarding resident ability to attend personal appointments and wellbeing. The results of these surveys were compared using descriptive statistics, t-test, and chi-square testing.
Setting: Single large academic training institution.
Participants: Sixty general surgery residents.
Results: Over 9 months, we scheduled 195 flex days and 91% of residents had used the program. The most common uses were travel, time with family/friends, and attending personal health appointments Postimplementation, of residents who needed an appointment, an increased percentage attended a physician (92% vs. 71%, p 0.02), dental (94% vs. 65%, p < 0.01) or mental health (96% vs. 64%, p < 0.01) appointment. A decreased percentage delayed a necessary appointment due to work hours (45% vs. 19.5%, p 0.01), 94% reported improved schedule control, and 100% believed the program was important for wellbeing. When comparing Mayo Wellbeing Index scores pre and postimplementation there was a decrease in the number of trainees reporting high distress (18.8% vs. 29.3%, p 0.03). Postimplementation, our program noted an 80% decrease in the number of duty hours violations (16 vs. 3 violations) and a 12% increase in compliance with the ACGME survey for ability to attend personal appointments.
Conclusion: "Flex" days offer surgical residents improved schedule control and the ability to schedule essential personal appointments. They are feasible, even within large training programs, with significant uptake in our sample.
(Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)