Frequently Asked Questions

1. What type of call system is in place? Does Temple utilize a night float system?

Residents graduate from one call to the next during their course of residency as follows:

  • Buddy call: 1st year residents (R1) are free from any call responsibility for the first 3 months of residency. Starting October, the R1 residents assist in weekday and weekend readouts of emergency studies with an upper year (R2) resident from October to December. Total: 1 weekday per week and every third weekend for 3 months.
  • Evening and weekend call: Begins in January of the first year (R1). During the first year of call, the R1 resident is always under in-house attending supervision.  Primary resident call responsibility is from 4:00 PM until 9:00 PM during weekdays and 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM on weekends. Total: 1 weekday per week, and every third weekend for 1 year.
  • Night float: Following twelve months of supervised call, the resident then graduates to twelve months of independent night float. The night float resident takes over all call responsibilities after 9 PM until 7:00 AM the following morning. During weekdays there is an attending inhouse until 12am, and on weekends until 10pm. Total: 1 week per night float, for a total of 8 weeks for 1 year.
  • Neuro weekend call: Following the twelve months of night float, the mid-third to fourth year residents share neuroradiology weekend calls) and provide backup (“jeopardy”) to the primary residents. Total: 1 weekend every 6 weekends or less for 1.5 years. 

2. How late at night is attending coverage provided    

  • Night Float is independent, meaning from 12am to 7am there is no in-house attending. However, the resident covering always has back-up. They are able to approve studies to receive a 2nd read by a teleradiologist or may call the on-call attending for the desired section. Residents do not read alone.

3. Does Temple allow for moonlighting?                       

  • Moonlighting is highly discouraged as we believe this has a negative impact on resident training. However, under special circumstances, outstanding residents can petition the department and the GME office to allow for moonlighting. Moonlighting can only occur on nights which the resident has no clinical responsibilities the next day.

4. How well does Temple conform to the new GME duty hour requirements?

  • Since implementation of a night float system, our residents never work more than 80 hours per week (averaged over 4 weeks) and always have at least 4 days free of clinical duty in a one month span.

5. Does Temple provide an educational allowance?

  • Temple provides a $1500 educational fund to cover associated expenses over the 4-years of residency. In addition, Temple pays tuition and a partial stipend for living expenses during the four weeks at AIRP. Temple will also provide funding for one conference during the senior year, which most residents elect to use for a review course. Temple may also provide $1500 per year to help fund attendance at any conference during which the resident presents his/her research.

6. What educational resources do you provide?

All residents get:

  • E-Anatomy subscription
  • StatDx subscription
  • RadPrimer subscription
  • iPad (leased)
  • iPhone (leased)
  • Radiology Library with access to latest editions of books and ability to order from book fund as desired