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Contact: Media Relations Officer, (202) 828-0975.
AAMC Statement on NLRB Boston Medical Center Ruling
Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., President
Association of American Medical Colleges
November 30, 1999
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is greatly disappointed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that overturns the board's longstanding position that residents and interns are first and foremost students, providing care to patients in the context of their education. The NLRB decision clearly has far-ranging, potentially damaging implications for the future of physician training in this country.
The AAMC recognizes that there are myriad pressures involved in the practice of medicine and the training of new physicians. However, the AAMC strongly disagrees with the contention that collective bargaining units are an appropriate and effective mechanism to address these pressures, particularly as they relate to residents. The AAMC also strongly believes that residents should not have the right to strike and that the ability to do so, which is one of the primary entitlements associated with unions, is incompatible with the medical education process. The bottom line is that medical education programs should be the responsibility of the faculty and teaching institution, and should be driven by educational considerations rather than the marketplace. The health care needs of patients and the educational demands of residents cannot wait while labor disputes are settled.
Teaching institutions provide a number of mechanisms for interns and residents to register concerns about patient care issues or about the environment in which they learn. These mechanisms are monitored closely by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education to ensure that they comply with national standards. The AAMC encourages housestaff to use these well-established mechanisms and to be cognizant of the many downsides of relying on collective bargaining units to resolve their concerns.
Similar to the American Medical Association's decision last summer to create collective bargaining units for physicians, the NLRB decision in the Boston Medical Center case continues to erode the core principle of professionalism in medicine.
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The Association of American Medical Colleges represents the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools; the 16 accredited Canadian medical schools; some 400 major teaching hospitals, including 74 Veterans Administration medical centers; 91 academic and professional societies representing nearly 88,000 faculty members; and the nation's 67,000 medical students and 102,000 residents.
Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at the AAMC Newsroom.
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