Physicians and Unions: Implications for Registered Nurses

Found this 6 yo article while web surfing just now....

Physicians and Unions: Implications for Registered Nurses

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Organizing and other union activity among physicians has drawn increasing attention recently in the general media and trade publications, and from unions and other health care professionals and their organizations. Why has this activity drawn so much interest? To some, union organizing among physicians—which by all accounts has grown appreciably in recent years—helps paint a dramatic picture of how they have been affected by changes in the health care system. From a position of dominance and seemingly complete autonomy, physicians have seen their status, degree of control, and incomes drop in recent years, and the decision of many to seek union representation appears—in the eyes of many observers—to illustrate the depth of those changes.


The American Nurses Association (ANA), along with its constituent state nurses associations, has a decades-long commitment to the right of registered nurses—the largest group of health professionals—to seek representation through organizing and bargaining collectively. It has long recognized the role that such activity can play in addressing not only wages and benefits, but the many conditions of employment that have a direct bearing on nurses' ability to practice their profession and to provide the highest quality care for their patients. Indications that many physicians are reaching similar conclusions is potentially of great interest to nursing. Does stepped up union activity among physicians simply mean that more physicians have come to the same conclusion as registered nurses in recognizing the role of collective bargaining in professional practice? Why should registered nurses care what physicians choose to do in this area? What relevance does the physician union movement have for registered nurses? ......