Starting January 1, 2012, UCLA Med-Peds will be instituting a new moonlighting policy that is tied to performance on the in-training examinations (ITEs). Residents who perform below the 50th percentile on either Internal Medicine or Pediatrics ITE must participate in a formal Medical Knowledge Improvement Program through Challenger. These residents will not be allowed to moonlight until they score above the 50th percentile on the following year's ITEs or there is significant ongoing improvement on the Challenger modules.

For those residents already moonlighting but are scoring below the 50th percentile on either ITE, there will be a discussion of moonlighting priviledges at the next biannual feedback meeting with the Program Director.

The special nature of the residency programs requires extensive clinical activity and availability to patients at times other than the regular working day. In addition, residency programs have a continuing academic component that requires continual personal effort. The general policy of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is not to encourage any type of outside clinical employment.

Each program director has the authority to develop and adopt a definitive policy applicable to the residency program with respect to outside clinical employment. Such policy may allow or prohibit moonlighting of house officers. Residents must not be required to engage in moonlighting.

Because residency education is a full time endeavor, the resident must ensure that moonlighting does not interfere with their ability to achieve the goals and objectives of the educational program. All moonlighting hours must be counted toward the 80-hour weekly limit on duty hours. Residents are responsible for ensuring that the addition of moonlighting hours does not result in a work week in excess of the 80-hour maximum, or result in fatigue which might affect patient care or learning.

It is the responsibility of the residents to notify the program director if they wish to moonlight. The program director must provide a written statement of permission, and this will become part of the resident's file. The program director will monitor resident performance to ensure that moonlighting activities are not adversely effecting patient care or learning. If the program director determines that the resident performance is deficient, the resident may be subject to withdrawal of permission or disciplinary actions. The program director may require detailed information on the timing and level or activity to assure it does not cause fatigue or interfere with patient care and the goals and objectives of the program. This information will be kept by the program director. The program director should acknowledge in writing that s/he is aware that the resident is moonlighting, and this information should become part of the resident's folder.