Shomer Shabbos Residency at New York Medical College - Example of Religious Tolerance and Cooperation Among Trainee Doctors of Various Religious Diversities at Work
Joseph Quintas, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY; Leanne Forman, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY,Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY; Frederick Bierman, Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY; and Rajan Dewar, Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY
Residency training is a unique transitional period during which a medical student graduates into a young physician trainee (officially termed graduate medical education). Residency training is often incredibly busy, sometimes compromising personal life with extended periods of hospital or clinic-based work. Most health care systems in the United States do not prioritize the young physician's religious needs and observances and emphasize that clinical and patient care are of utmost importance; they take for granted that the observant religious trainee will forego these traditions and practices during the tough years of 'maturing' into a real doctor. For a young doctor, who was a student thus far, and is now an 'employee', this formative time can create significant dilemmas around balance of identities. For these struggling doctors, where can the health care institutions allow creative accommodations? Does a diverse religious workplace create an opportunity to co-operate and nurture each other’s traditions? To address these questions, we present the Shomer Shabbos program here.
Shomer Shabbos (translated from Hebrew as ‘Sabbath observant’) is a special program allowing accommodation of observant Jewish trainee physicians. This structure is offered only in a select few residency training programs in the United States. We describe the Shomer Shabbos program offered at New York Medical College and Westchester Medical Center, including the religious accommodations which are part of the program, the cooperation between various religious groups to accommodate the program, and some of the limitations.
The main component of the Shomer Shabbos program is that the officially accepted residents in these slots are relieved from all clinical responsibilities on the Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath begins eighteen minutes before sunset on Friday, and ends approximately forty-five minutes after sunset on Saturday, totaling 25 hours. Residents in the program signout their duties early on Friday, and sign in late on Saturday nights if necessary, so that they are home in time for the Sabbath, with travel time included.
The program also provides a guarantee that accepted residents will have all religious holidays off. Some residents choose to either use personal days and compensate for them during non-mandatory elective time, or they can take vacation during these holidays. Some programs in NY mandate they take vacations during that time. The flexibility offered in our program appears to be of an advantage, as reflected in qualitative feedback from our residents.
At New York Medical College/Westchester Medical Center, seven training programs offer Shomer Shabbos training slots: these are Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Pathology, Neurology, Radiology and Rehabilitation services. The first two (IM and Peds) are the programs which carry the largest number of official Shomer Shabbos residents. In the Internal Medicine program, there are 21 residents accepted every year (starting July 1st). Three of the 21 slots are reserved preferentially for the Shomer Shabbos program; typically in IM these slots have more applicants than spots. However, in other programs such as pathology, 1 out of 3 spots do not usually fill, and the unfilled spot is returned to the open position. For observant residents who are not within the official Shabbos residency slots, the IM training program and the institution try to accommodate them, if they note their observance prior to the start of internship.
The main issue in this program is scheduling, and this is done creatively with cooperation of the other residents. Residents of non-Jewish traditions (Hindu, Muslim, Christianity, atheism, non-secular, undisclosed) are not only aware of the Shomer Shabbos program, they cooperate with the program by accommodating others’ traditions. For example, the clinical schedule is on a 6x2 week schedule, and thus residents are divided into 4 clinic groups and spend 2 out of every 8 weeks in clinic. Pairing of a Jewish resident with a Christian resident who wishes to observe Sundays off for church has also been an informal practice to accommodate non-Sabbath observant Jewish residents and Christian residents, by mutual agreement. Additionally, these residents may request to swap calls with their colleagues so as to observe their holidays: for example, the observant resident may cover Christmas while the non-Jewish resident covers Passover.
Open dialogue, promotion and tolerance of all religious faiths at NYMC have been able to solve any minor issues and the Shomer Shabbos program had been running successfully fulfilling the religious needs of many young trainee physicians.
Shomer Shabbos (translated from Hebrew as ‘Sabbath observant’) is a special program allowing accommodation of observant Jewish trainee physicians. This structure is offered only in a select few residency training programs in the United States. We describe the Shomer Shabbos program offered at New York Medical College and Westchester Medical Center, including the religious accommodations which are part of the program, the cooperation between various religious groups to accommodate the program, and some of the limitations.
The main component of the Shomer Shabbos program is that the officially accepted residents in these slots are relieved from all clinical responsibilities on the Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath begins eighteen minutes before sunset on Friday, and ends approximately forty-five minutes after sunset on Saturday, totaling 25 hours. Residents in the program signout their duties early on Friday, and sign in late on Saturday nights if necessary, so that they are home in time for the Sabbath, with travel time included.
The program also provides a guarantee that accepted residents will have all religious holidays off. Some residents choose to either use personal days and compensate for them during non-mandatory elective time, or they can take vacation during these holidays. Some programs in NY mandate they take vacations during that time. The flexibility offered in our program appears to be of an advantage, as reflected in qualitative feedback from our residents.
At New York Medical College/Westchester Medical Center, seven training programs offer Shomer Shabbos training slots: these are Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Pathology, Neurology, Radiology and Rehabilitation services. The first two (IM and Peds) are the programs which carry the largest number of official Shomer Shabbos residents. In the Internal Medicine program, there are 21 residents accepted every year (starting July 1st). Three of the 21 slots are reserved preferentially for the Shomer Shabbos program; typically in IM these slots have more applicants than spots. However, in other programs such as pathology, 1 out of 3 spots do not usually fill, and the unfilled spot is returned to the open position. For observant residents who are not within the official Shabbos residency slots, the IM training program and the institution try to accommodate them, if they note their observance prior to the start of internship.
The main issue in this program is scheduling, and this is done creatively with cooperation of the other residents. Residents of non-Jewish traditions (Hindu, Muslim, Christianity, atheism, non-secular, undisclosed) are not only aware of the Shomer Shabbos program, they cooperate with the program by accommodating others’ traditions. For example, the clinical schedule is on a 6x2 week schedule, and thus residents are divided into 4 clinic groups and spend 2 out of every 8 weeks in clinic. Pairing of a Jewish resident with a Christian resident who wishes to observe Sundays off for church has also been an informal practice to accommodate non-Sabbath observant Jewish residents and Christian residents, by mutual agreement. Additionally, these residents may request to swap calls with their colleagues so as to observe their holidays: for example, the observant resident may cover Christmas while the non-Jewish resident covers Passover.
Open dialogue, promotion and tolerance of all religious faiths at NYMC have been able to solve any minor issues and the Shomer Shabbos program had been running successfully fulfilling the religious needs of many young trainee physicians.