Family Medicine Program to Continue at Robert Wood Johnson

Residents at Robert Wood Johnson petitioned to save their Family Medicine program.

For CIR residents at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s Department of Family Medicine in New Brunswick, NJ, it took a lot of hard work to buck the trend towards specialization, and keep their program open.

Their residency site was jeopardized after St. Peter’s University Hospital withdrew its share of the funding in July of 2005. “The resident physicians and faculty in this program provide up to 50,000 outpatient visits a year,” said CIR delegate Kennedy Ganti, MD, a PGY 3. Had the New Brunswick residency closed, he said, “our clinics would have had trouble staying open. New Jersey already has a serious shortage of primary care physicians.”

Dr. Ganti and his colleagues discussed the situation with their program director and department chairman, and with other workers represented by unions at their hospital. “We felt that we had a duty to inform the public and elected officials that thousands of patients might lose their family physician. We met with New Jersey legislators, the city council, and community groups, and presented our situation to Gov. Corzine. We had all our residents participating in a demonstration, and many attendings, too. We passed out cellphones so passersby could call legislators. It was a great experience! When you don’t know what’s going to happen, and have a public response like we had, it’s a tremendous feeling, and more important, it led to something.”

At the end of all that work, there was a turnaround. “We are thrilled that the hospital and medical school agreed to continue this program next year,” said Dr. Barbie Gatton MD, CIR President at the time, “however, we need to ensure that this program continues to provide care to this urban, underserved community for years to come.”

“Labor rights are not just about getting a paycheck. Participating in CIR is the best thing I ever did in my residency,” said Dr. Ganti. “CIR makes us a force to be reckoned with, which helps in negotiations, and it helps residents that CIR is there for the health of residents and their programs. There are Family Medicine programs closing throughout the country. What do we have that they don’t? We have CIR. When I joined this residency, it was as stable as anything. I didn’t think I’d have to fight, but these fights are going to become more commonplace at clinics, hospitals and specialty programs,” he said.