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Overview of Call Structure and Responsibilities


  • "HMHI" refers to the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, which is the home base of our residency and houses most of the inpatient psychiatric units and outpatient clinics
  • “5W” or "IMP" refers to the 5-West inpatient psychiatric unit that is part of the University of Utah main hospital
  • “VA” or “VA IPU” refers to the inpatient psychiatric unit at the George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center

PGY1

  • Short Call: 5pm-8pm on Monday through Friday. Responsible for admissions to HMHI and VA IPU units, which are capped at 3 admissions. Supervised by PGY3.

PGY2

  • Daytime Long Call: 8am-8pm Saturday and Sunday. Responsible for admission and cross-cover issues for patients at IMP and VA IPU. Also helps with ED co-management if a psychiatric patient is boarding in the ED from 5pm-8pm, but this is rare.
  • HMHI Overnight Call (aka Night Float): 7pm-7am for 1-2 week stretch (6 days/week). Responsible for accepting and admitting all adult patients who arrive to HMHI during the shift. Before midnight, resident completes full admissions up to 5 patients; after midnight, resident is responsible for medical evaluation and orders only. Also responsible for addressing cross-cover issues, emergencies, and requests for discharge by adult patients overnight. 2 residents are on night float at one time.
  • Weekend Main Hospital Consult Coverage: Primarily covered by moonlighting resident. If no moonlighting residents are available, consult responsibility is defaulted to the PGY2 resident on call.

PGY3

  • Supervisory Call: One-week blocks of home call after junior residents have been "signed off", supervising the PGY1/2 call shifts. Supervisory resident will be present during initial PGY1 shifts. Weekdays during short call hours (see “Short call” above). Accepts new admissions to VA IPU, then supervises and staffs the admission with the intern who personally admits the patient. On weekends, back-up for PGY2 on Daytime Long Call.

Moonlighting

  • Starting in the PGY2 year, for those interested and in good standing with the residency program, there are a number of opportunities for moonlighting. Residents can moonlight both within our hospital system as well as throughout the Salt Lake City area. Moonlighting is not required.