ACGME Accreditation, Resident Unions, and the Centrality of Patient Welfare

the ACGME cannot and will not replace resident unions, associations, or other groups where residents perceive the need arising for the presence of these organizations." 1 This was the concluding sentence of a 2009 commentary in response to a call 2 that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) might assume the role of unions for residents.In that commentary, the authors clarified the ACGME's role as an educational accreditor, its philosophical basis for accreditation functions, the primary role of residents as students, and the ACGME's mission 3 to improve health and health care of the public.In articulating these distinctions, the authors described the difference between the role of the ACGME and that of resident unions-a position we reaffirm.