The Survival Spellbook
Everything from Chief Chat, in your pocket forever.
Start here
Five minutes now saves you a bad night later.
Announcements
made by your chiefs · Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics 26–27
The Contact Grimoire
Tap Save to add someone to your contacts — that's the whole trick.
Your chiefs
your fairy godparentsProgram leadership
Program administration
Key clinical contacts
Department
Names are saved plain — no titles, no credentials — so they sort the way your phone expects.
Time
The calendar, the conferences, and every way to ask for a day.
The conference calendar
Subscribe once — it stays current on your phone. Every Grand Rounds, Case Conference, Friday Didactics and M&M, with the Zoom link and attendance form inside each event. It's the chiefs' live calendar: any change we make appears on your phone automatically.
Subscribe on iPhonetap → Subscribe — stays current automatically Subscribe on Google Calendaradds it to your Google account by URLThe lineup
Zoom links and the attendance form live inside each calendar event. The form is also pinned in the Teams chat.
Asking for time
Academic half days
E-mail Christan at least 48 hours ahead — and wait for the approval reply.
Three Friday half days per year. Some Fridays (Sim, for example) aren't eligible. The request isn't done until Christan replies — don't assume.
Weekend requests
Johanna's Teams form — 3 best-effort per year. On a Peds ED block, it's Dr. Padlipsky instead.
Context helps her say yes. Three per year is best-effort, not a guarantee.
If the weekend falls in your Peds ED block, the request goes to Dr. Padlipsky, not the form.
Holidays — Christmas & New Year's
A separate holiday request form. Not the regular weekend form.
Easy to get wrong: the holiday form is its own thing. Filing the weekend form for Christmas means your request isn't where anyone is looking.
Health maintenance visits
Johanna, at least 48 hours ahead — and a doctor's note the next business day.
No note is treated as a professionalism concern. Get it, send it, done.
Scheduling conflicts
Tell Johanna as soon as you know. More than two weeks out is far more likely to work.
Under two weeks, nothing is guaranteed — but tell her anyway. The earlier it lands, the more room there is to move things.
The Rules
Every card tells you the answer on its face. Tap only if you want the rest.
Calling out, by rotation
Every call-out starts with PEDS ONCALL (424) 484-8719 — then it depends where you are.
Primary service — Ward, Nursery, NICU, PICU. Call PEDS ONCALL at least 2 hours before your shift. Also notify your senior and attending (interns) or co-senior and attending (seniors) — and the team in house by page or phone if it's same-day. They're expecting you at sign-out.
Peds ED. Call as early as possible, even if you might feel better — contingency plans take time. Notify PEDS ONCALL, the current PED attending or resident in charge, and Dr. Patricia Padlipsky — cell (310) 930-6387, ppadlipsky@dhs.lacounty.gov. Peds ED: x65058.
Elective. PEDS ONCALL plus the subspecialty attending directly, and e-mail the program coordinator (HarborPedsResidency@dhs.lacounty.gov).
Clinics. PEDS ONCALL plus the subspecialty attending (pager or phone), and e-mail the coordinators. Clinic numbers live with the subspecialty clinic schedule.
Continuity clinic (CCC). PEDS ONCALL plus your continuity clinic attending. Coverage or rescheduling gets arranged; if patients need rescheduling, the program will tell you what's needed when you're back.
Trades — can and cannot
Cross-cover and jeopardy, yes. On primary service, you need direct PD approval — assume no until told yes.
You can trade cross-cover and jeopardy shifts.
You cannot trade a jeopardy shift if it means multiple days in a row · you're post-call · you'd switch to primary service the next day · a duty-hour violation · a cancelled continuity clinic.
All requests go through QGenda, which routes to Johanna and the PD team. Questions → e-mail Johanna.
Jeopardy — the 60-second version
Reachable in 15 minutes, at work in 1 hour. The originally scheduled resident pays it back within 2 weeks.
PGY-1. Interns cover interns: Mon–Fri AM/PM during subspecialty clinic, PPMH and Advocacy — weekends too, once 24+4s begin in March. It's a rotating pool: once you're called in, you drop to the bottom for 24 hours. Seniors step in only if the whole intern pool is used within 24 hours, or on weekends.
PGY-2/3. Any senior not on inpatient, call-free or vacation. When you're up: reachable within 15 minutes, at work within 1 hour. Unreachable without telling the PDs/APDs first? Second call activates — and you owe them two shifts.
Payback. The originally scheduled resident pays it back. Agree within two weeks, e-mail the plan to program leadership (chief e-mail + Johanna + Dr. Gustafson), cc the resident who covered.
When in doubt: chiefs first — we'll point you to the right person.
Post-call rounding — the weekend rule
Fri PM → Sat AM · Sat PM → Sun AM · Sun PM → Mon AM. Expected in all primary units.
On nights, or switching onto another primary service? Post-call round on your primary service.
Splitting a 28
Needs Johanna, the APDs/PD and the on-service attendings. No extra days off, no cancelled CCC.
Update MedHub and QGenda before the shift. A split that isn't in the systems didn't happen.
Who do I call?
Every situation, one answer. The whole table, in one place.
Didactics by Zoom
Only approved when you're on an off-campus rotation. Otherwise, be in the room.
Zoom exists so an off-campus rotation doesn't cost you attendance — not as a general alternative to showing up.
Raising a concern, anonymously
GME keeps an anonymous concerns form. You don't have to come to us first.
The form lives on the Harbor GME SharePoint page:
lacounty.sharepoint.com → Harbor → GME
You can also just talk to us. Both routes are real; use whichever you'll actually use.
What you're owed
The stuff nobody tells you about. Limits stated plainly.
Rides home
Six one-way rides per academic year. If you're too tired to drive safely, take the ride. That's what it's for.
Receipts within 30 days to humc-gme@dhs.lacounty.gov · questions to mkelly@cirseiu.org
Weekend DoorDash
$25 per person. Residents only — med students are welcome to eat with you, they're just not covered.
Something not working? Tell a chief.
Reimbursements
E-mail Lucinda Santos and Christan Francis together — one e-mail, both names — within 30 days of payment.
Thirty days is the part people miss. Put the receipt in the e-mail the day you pay.
Education funds
Coming — the chiefs are confirming the annual amount, what qualifies and who approves before this goes on the site. Ask a chief in the meantime.
Food & forms
opens in TeamsDemocracy, but for the candy bowl.
Dietary preferences formtell us once, eat happily all year Snack & candy request formvote for what fills the bowlMissing a perk you know about? Tell a chief and it goes in the book.