Block schedule
Updated October 12, 2026 · with an example to try
A block schedule splits the residency year into blocks, each with one rotation: usually 13 blocks of 4 weeks or 12 calendar months. Programs average duty hours by rotation, as the ACGME requires: over 4 weeks, a month, or the rotation if it's shorter, never as a rolling average.
See a year of blocks
Example · runs in your browser; nothing you enter is sent
- Block 1: Jul 1 to Jul 28 (28 days)
- Block 2: Jul 29 to Aug 25 (28 days)
- Block 3: Aug 26 to Sep 22 (28 days)
- Block 4: Sep 23 to Oct 20 (28 days)
- Block 5: Oct 21 to Nov 17 (28 days)
- Block 6: Nov 18 to Dec 15 (28 days)
- Block 7: Dec 16 to Jan 12 (28 days)
- Block 8: Jan 13 to Feb 9 (28 days)
- Block 9: Feb 10 to Mar 9 (28 days)
- Block 10: Mar 10 to Apr 6 (28 days)
- Block 11: Apr 7 to May 4 (28 days)
- Block 12: May 5 to Jun 1 (28 days)
- Block 13: Jun 2 to Jun 30 (29 days)
Wards 4, ICU 2, Emergency 2, Clinic 2, Night float 1, Elective 2.
Vacation usually comes as a week inside a block rather than a block of its own.
Pick 4-week blocks or months and the first day of the year, then set a rotation for each block.
4-week blocks or months
- 13 blocks of 4 weeks make 364 days, so the last block takes one extra day (two in a leap year). Every block starts on the same weekday.
- 12 calendar months run 28 to 31 days and start on different weekdays.
X+Y schedules
Many internal medicine programs use an X+Y schedule instead: X weeks of inpatient or elective blocks, then Y weeks of clinic, such as 4+1. The tool above doesn't build one. For duty hours, each block is its own rotation: the 4 weeks are averaged together, and the clinic week on its own, with leave days left out of both.
Common questions
- How many blocks are in a residency year?
- 13 with 4-week blocks, or 12 with months.
- Are duty hours averaged over a rolling 4 weeks?
- No. They're averaged by rotation: over the 4 weeks, month or shorter rotation.
Check your own schedule against these rules.
Use the free duty-hour check with your calendar link, the subscribe link your scheduling app gives you, or a calendar file. Our server reads a link once, sends back only the shift times and keeps nothing; a file never leaves your device. No account needed (what the checks see).