What it does
Work types are the shift categories trainees pick from when logging hours. Each type carries default flags that decide how those hours are treated by compliance detection. The institution-level logging policy controls reminders and whether programs may set their own sampling cadence.
Who it's for
Program administrators maintaining their program's work types, and institution administrators setting institution-wide reminder and sampling defaults.
How it works
Work type fields. Each type has a Name, a Code (auto-generated from the name if left blank), an optional Description, and a Category. Categories come from the platform's built-in set — regular, in-hospital and home call, night float, moonlighting, administrative, emergent call, and time-off categories such as vacation, sick, holiday, personal day, and conference. A Default Behavior Flags group holds three checkboxes: Counts toward weekly limit (ACGME 80-hour rule), In-hospital presence required, and Counts as work time (vs. time off). You can edit a type, toggle it active or inactive, or delete it.
How flags are used. Violation detection only evaluates entries that count toward the weekly limit and count as work time. The in-hospital flag feeds the continuous-duty and rest rules. Time-off categories default to not counting. Work types also power the one-click logging templates on the trainee's Work Hours page.
Logging policy. Institution administrators set two things on the Logging policy card: Send daily work-hour reminders, a toggle with a Days without logging field (default 3) that decides when a trainee gets a reminder, and Allow programs to customize sampling, which lets a program set its own sampling cadence instead of the institution default. Select Save defaults to store these.
Where thresholds live. Numeric duty-hour thresholds — weekly cap, shift cap, minimum rest, averaging window — aren't set here. They live on the Rules & Limits page (/work-hours/manage/rules) as a per-rule threshold, with institution and program scope plus per-role overrides. See the violation detection article.
Shift-end prompts. Separately from daily reminders, trainees get an in-app or push prompt after a shift ends, asking them to log it. This is independent of the daily-reminder toggle above, it isn't the period-submission reminder, and it doesn't notify coordinators. It stays on by default — Logging policy has no switch to turn it off.
Before you start
You need work-hours management permission to edit work types or the logging policy.
Institution admins set the logging policy from the institution portal; program admins manage their own program's work types. Numeric limits live on Rules & Limits (
/work-hours/manage/rules), not on Logging policy — that page is institution-only, while Rules & Limits also opens from the administration portal, showing the program's effective rules (read-only unless the institution has enabled program customization).
Do this
Open the Work Types settings page (
/work-hours/manage/work-types) → you should see the list of configured work types with a search field and an Add Type button.Select Add Type → the Add Work Type dialog opens.
In the dialog, enter a Name and, if this program needs it, a custom Code → the code is generated from the name if you leave it blank. Pick a Category from the dropdown.
In the Default Behavior Flags panel, set the three checkboxes to match how this type should count → confirm the flags match how you want detection to treat this type.
Select Save in the dialog → the dialog closes and the new type appears on the work types list.
You're done when
✓ The new work type shows on the work types list with its code, category, and flags.
✓ Trainees logging hours in your program can select the new type from the Work type dropdown.
✓ Entries logged under it are counted or excluded from detection according to the flags you set.
Boundaries and limits
The category list is fixed by the platform; you choose from it but cannot invent new categories. Custom naming happens at the work-type level.
Work type codes are capped at 10 characters and stored uppercase.
A work type's flags are defaults applied at logging time; detection reads the flags stored on each entry.
Deleting a work type is a soft delete; deactivating hides it from new logging without removing history.
The Allow programs to customize sampling toggle only grants the ability. A program still turns on its own Use custom sampling periods toggle in its General Settings to actually use one.
Daily reminders are off unless explicitly enabled on the logging policy card.
Shift-end prompts stay on by default. Logging policy has no switch to turn them off. They're an in-app or push prompt to the assigned trainee, independent of daily reminders, not the period-submission reminder, and they don't go to coordinators.
Common questions
Q: We want conference time visible on the log but excluded from the weekly cap. How? A: Create or edit a work type in the conference category and leave Counts toward weekly limit (ACGME 80-hour rule) unchecked. Hours logged under it appear in the record but are ignored by detection.
Q: Where do I set the 80-hour weekly cap or the minimum rest hours? A: Not on this page. Those numeric thresholds are configured on Rules & Limits (/work-hours/manage/rules), where each rule shows its own threshold and an edit control. Institution admins edit the institution's defaults there; program admins see their program's effective rules on the same page, read-only unless the institution has enabled program customization.
Q: Can interns and senior residents have different caps? A: Yes, through per-role overrides on Rules & Limits — the rule threshold can differ by trainee role, including first-year-only restrictions.
Q: Will trainees still get nudged to log hours if I turn off daily reminders? A: Possibly — daily reminders and shift-end prompts are separate. Shift-end prompts (an in-app/push nudge sent after a shift ends) stay on regardless, since Logging policy has no switch for them.
Q: Does changing a work type's flags rewrite old entries? A: No. Flags are defaults for new entries. Existing entries keep the flags they were logged with until edited.
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