CIR/SEIU Healthcare

CIR Mourns UCSF Psychiatry Professor Kevin Mack

It is with great sadness that the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare adds this statement to the many outpourings of grief and remembrance over the recent, tragic death of Dr. Kevin Mack. Dr. Mack was killed in a shuttle-bus accident early on the morning of July 15 on his way to work at San Francisco General Hospital. He was a beloved educator and physician and mentored dozens of trainees in all fields of medicine, touching countless students, residents, and peers through his bright, inspiring, committed presence. Dr. Mack’s greatest joy came from being an educator, and in his own words, “from helping people use their own sense of wonder and inquiry to find and fuel their passion...whether that be in science, arts, or something else entirely.”

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Stand Strong for Medicaid

Medicaid is under siege.

In every state where CIR has members, we've seen years of Medicaid cuts. But President Obama and Congressional leaders are currently negotiating a deal to trim the budget deficit and to increase the debt limit. That deficit reduction, which must be completed by August 2, may now be targeting Medicaid for hundreds of billions in additional cuts.

Write to your members of Congress and urge them to
STAND STRONG FOR MEDICAID.

CIR National Convention 2011

Improving Patient Safety and Resident Wellness

Exec_Committee_2011

In 1936, a group of interns from New York City's public hospitals campaigned for and won the first salary for interns and residents: $15 a month.

Today, a majority of resident physicians earn a living wage but struggle with a new set of issues: having a voice in the hospital, protecting safety net institutions from devastating cuts, and removing obstacles to providing the very best care to their patients.

Members of the 13,000-member Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU Healthcare) got a glimpse of that history and saw how far we've come at the 2011 CIR Convention in Chicago this past weekend, and participated in workshops and plenary sessions to improve their medical education and their leadership skills.

Meet the new 2011-2012 Executive Committee, watch highlights of the three-day event, and download materials from the plenary sessions.

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Jackson residents kick off SAVE JACKSON campaign

The ten-year anniversary of CIR’s Housestaff Appreciation Day at Jackson Memorial Hospital was an especially lively affair this year. Jackson residents teamed up with SEIU Local 1991, which represents nurses, attendings, and other healthcare professionals, to rally support for the SAVE JACKSON campaign.

Jackson Memorial Hospital, like many safety-net hospitals throughout the country, is in dire financial straits. Governor Rick Scott and his allies want Jackson sold to private investors, putting at risk over 700,000 uninsured residents in Miami-Dade county who depend on the public hospital for healthcare services.

Watch Dr. Liker and Dr. Tompkins at the SAVE JACKSON kickoff campaign!

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Bronx-Lebanon Residents Make Headlines With QI Initiative

If residents at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in the Bronx find ways to improve patient care while cutting costs, they will be eligible for significant bonuses, thanks to a new three-year contract ratified in late February. The agreement was reported in the New York Daily News on March 8. Bronx-Lebanon is among a growing number of hospitals that are coming to the bargaining table to talk not just about salaries and benefits, but about quality improvement and enhancing the educational experience for residents. Other hospitals that have embarked on similar collaborations wtih CIR are Maimonides Medical Center and Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn.

Read more about the Bronx-Lebanon-CIR Quality Improvement Initiative

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Poverty Wages and Bad Health Linked, Bronx Physician Says

Speaking from his perspective as a physician in the Bronx, Jacobi Hospital Radiology resident Dr. Deepak Das delivered a powerful testimony at a May 12 City Council hearing in support of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act -- a bill that would require all jobs created through taxpayer development subsidies to pay employees at least $11.50/hour, or $10 per hour with benefits. Such a law already exists in several cities nationwide, but has met opposition in in New York, where the income divide separating the rich and poor is widest in the country.

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White Paper on Work Hours Reform Publishes

Physician leaders in medicine and patient safety released a white paper today in the journal Nature and Science of Sleep calling for reform of resident physician training to improve medical education and protect patients from fatigue-related medical errors.

The author team is led by such notable experts in sleep science and patient safety as Lucian Leape, MD, Harvard School of Public Health; Christopher P. Landrigan, MD, MPH, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and Charles A. Czeisler, PhD, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. CIR’s non-profit Policy and Education Initiative sponsored the conference.

Download the report.