Resident and Fellow Unions: Collective Activism to Promote Well-being for Physicians in Training

The past 3 years mark the largest wave of activism by resident physicians advocating for physician well-being since the mid-1970s. As the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified systemic factors driving persistent burnout in medicine, resident physicians and fellows are increasingly rejecting the status quo of long hours and low pay during medical training. Burnout is commonly defined as a work-related syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished feelings of personal accomplishment. Driven by a desire to counteract physician burnout, improve health care equity, and reprioritize the patient-physician relationship, house staff (ie, resident physicians and fellows) are increasingly taking action through labor unions.