Stanford Health Care's resident physicians voted May 2 in favor of joining the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR-SEIU), part of a growing trend in unionization within the medical profession.
More than 81% of the health system's resident physicians voted to join the union; the decision garnered 835 yes votes and 214 no votes, according to a CIR-SEIU announcement. The largest housestaff union in the United States and a local of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), CIR-SEIU represents more than 20,000 resident physicians and fellows.
"With its successful representation with the Committee of Interns and Residents, Stanford housestaff now join the strong community of allied unions and fellow healthcare workers such as the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA), an independent union of Stanford nurses," according to CIR-SEIU.
"We are organizing not only for a new economic contract that enables all potential housestaff and their families to afford living in the Bay Area, but also for a new social contract that redefines how we are valued by the hospital system," Ben Solomon, MD, PhD, a third-year resident physician in pediatrics at Stanford Medicine and a member of CIR-SEIU, told Medscape Medical News.
"This includes advocating for more humane working hours, reasonable parental leave, and childcare support, as well as resources to combat burnout in young physicians," he added.
