MIR, EIR, FIR, PIR generations remember their low salaries

The average salary of a medicine resident in his or her first year in Spain is approximately 1,342 gross euros per month, A “minimum” amount according to the MIRs themselves and with which they can hardly reconcile with their personal lives, let alone even consider the possibility of buying a house. Shared rent to be able to “live with dignity” With resident salary. This amount is repeated in the case of FIR and is even less in other specifications like EIR or PIR. But, Has the situation become worse over the years?Have health professions lost purchasing power? What is the difference from previous generations?

medical writing seeks to answer these questions through personal stories and testimonies. In a new debate titled ‘Liberation and Reconciliation: Health Care Residents Towards a New Quality of Life’, four residents (MIR, EIR, FIR and PIR) have met with two senior health professionals to review the evolution of the pay gap and quality of life experienced in recent decades. And the conclusion is that “everything is the same” or, at best, it has become worse.

Currently the average salary of residents varies from 1,342 gross euros per month for a MIR to 1,110 gross euros per month for a PIR.

This is how he describes it Francisco CoronelRetired Nephrologist from San Carlos Clinical Hospital: “They paid me 9,000 pesetas per month, which was actually a very small amount.You can’t live with him. The only good thing we had in my time was that a doctor who had completed his degree could moonlight,” he admits. In his case, he found himself setting up a small private practice at home. Dedicated, allowing him to “move on” was a resident, since he didn’t even charge extra for a 24-hour guard.

In the case of nursing, the situation is made even more serious by low salaries, which must be complemented in “yes or yes” with guards to live with dignity: “We We do 33 hours of guard duty in the afternoon And on weekends we work 12-hour days, which increases your salary,” he says. Marta Tejeiro, R1 EIR of Mental Health in the Segovia Care Complex. he thinks so too sara lospitaoAssistant Nurse at Fuenlabrada Hospital: “The gross hourly pay that an EIR is paid in a hospital is not the same as the salary received by an MIR. If you are young, it means you have to do it. reside in another autonomous community and It’s impossible to be independent from that salaryApart from continuing their training or living a respectable personal life.

Francisco Coronel, retired nephrologist from San Carlos Clinical Hospital.

Additionally, resident salaries vary depending on the CCAA. Andalusia is the country with the lowest for R1 MIR, at 1,282 euros per month According to data from the Study Center of the Medical Union of Grenada, and the Balearic Islands have the highest with 1,512 gross. This causes them to hire more guards than the EU mandates, which is about five or six. The price of these guards also varies, starting at a national average of 14.38 euros per hour on a working day. However, communities such as Madrid or the Canary Islands have the worst wages, close to 11 euros, while the Balearic Islands have the highest wages, at 18 euros per hour.

“The difference between having an R1 and having an R4 is that now I can have two vermouths and before I could only have one.”

Residents are “tied” by occupation and attachment

Maria GonzalezThe family R4 MIR during their residence at the University Hospital of the Canary Islands came to the conclusion that, although it cannot be generalized in this country Healing is sustained by a feeling of “attachment Many of us have.” The resident and mother admits that, no matter how much she is paid in other countries, unless she is living in a very dire situation, she would not consider leaving. “At home My husband always tells me, go whenever you want, but it’s something I never consider because it’s for me The social and family life I have outside of work is more valuable“, Add.

R1 EIR of Mental Health at the Segovia Care Complex, Marta Tejeiro and R4 EIR of Family at the University Hospital of the Canary Islands, Marta González.

She identifies herself as “verified” because, although she has no confidence that the salary situation will change, she wants to fight for a decent situation if tomorrow her son “makes the mistake of choosing the same path as me.” ” Things are “a little better.” but today, “We can’t have the life we ​​want if their parents don’t help financially”, A life that, Marta insists, is nothing “out of the ordinary”: “It involves having a house, good education for our children, being able to go out to eat on the weekend, taking a walk somewhere, Traveling from time to time involves being able to eat good food, from time to time… and with the salaries we have, that’s impossible,” she adds.

Young healthcare workers face a situation in which, in 2023, a young person will have to dedicate 93.9 percent of their salary to rent a house alone. Besides, Rental prices have increased by 37 percent since 2009., while residents’ wages have increased by only 11 percent. Out of the total number of youth, only 16.73 per cent are free and of these, 37.9 per cent are forced to share a flat with people who are not their partner or family.

Covenants that make access to housing difficult

When looking for an apartment to become independent, all four residents agree, highlighting the same problem: Payrolls do not meet the requirements requested by landlords and real estate agencies to rent an apartment, “I still share a flat with three people, the arrangement of finding a flat is very difficult… They ask for 90 payment slips, you have to give seven months’ deposit… This is an exaggeration and the end In the U.S. it is very difficult to be independent,” explains Jorge Pedreira, R4 FIR at the University Hospital of Fuenlabrada. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of the autonomous community in which you live, whether or not you take the step to purchase a home. “I’m from Santiago de Compostela, and I see itBuying a house in Madrid is particularly complicated” says the pharmacist, who explains that if you want to take the step “you have to move away from the epicenter of the Madrid earthquake.” “It invites you to think about living somewhere else, although it The autonomous community is complex,” he says.

Jorge Pedreira, R4 FIR of Hospital Pharmacy at the University Hospital of Fuenlabrada.

Alejandra Costales, R1 PIR at Fuenlabrada University Hospital, comments that it All residents have difficulty finding apartments. And gives the example of a nearby case in which a fellow MIR member could not rent an apartment. “With a resident contract that’s at least four or five years, I don’t know that they need any more security,” jokes PIR, who emphasizes that, even if you have the money Ho, these types of contracts “make it even more difficult to get access to a home”.

Marta Gonzalez gives another perspective on the housing outlook for residents. In her case, she owns a home with her husband, but is now facing mortgage increases that are no longer affordable. “My salary is very, very inadequate for a normal life,” he assures and gives as an example that, “If the car runs out of gas on the 25th, it’s a tough test because you have to pay on the 27th. “I don’t get paid until the 28th or the 28th.” “This would have been impossible if my parents had not helped me,” he insists. Marta Tejeiro agrees with its importance Have a family economic network to be able to move forward, “Either they help you or you have to have some savings from working before you can be relieved, otherwise residence is complicated,” he explains.

A moment of debate on the medical writing set ‘Liberation and reconciliation: health care residents towards a new quality of life’.

Neither the salaries nor the rents are improving

Francisco Coronel, on the other hand, believes that “although he could not even afford the rental when he was a resident” there is a difference when it comes to choosing to buy a home. “I made the move after several years of being a nephrology assistant, but it was easy, because It will now take you twice as many years to pay off a house as before“says the doctor. Sara Lospitao agrees that “several years had to pass in which she felt stability in her job” until she became a boss. “Each stage and each era has its own things, good And bad, but then if we put it all together, we’re still there. Not much has changed. It stays the same,” says the nurse.

Sara Lospitao, Associate Nurse at Fuenlabrada Hospital and Professor of Nursing Degree at UX.

The third part of the debate examines differences in work-life balance. Marta González, due to her particularity of being an MIR and having a daughter during her residency, remembers Juggling work and personal time after the girl’s birth “was a shock” for him., “They told me I would have to suffer the consequences of having a daughter and that I wouldn’t be able to choose my vacations or request days off,” she says. He gives as an example that, when he requested breastfeeding days, they did not want to grant them “because allegedly he did not have the right to do so because he was a resident.” He explains, “After a lot of fighting, he told me I could ask him out, but usually he doesn’t get asked out, and that shocked me.”

“My MIR R4 salary is very inadequate for a normal life”

All participants agree that healthcare workers’ occupation cannot be an “excuse” for being underpaid or demanding impossible shifts. ,Our profession is to take care of others who have no value, “I can spend four afternoons a week in the hospital, and my salary improves, but then you’re practically at work,” says Alejandra Costales. Both Jorge and Marta explain that their families Is in Galicia, and he always finds it difficult. to meet him. “Traveling there is complicated, because As EIR I do not hold guard posts. And, four hours there and four hours back, it’s not fair to just spend a day there,” he says.

Alejandra Costales, R1 PIR at Fuenlabrada University Hospital.

In the end, young health workers and people of other generations repeat the same thing: too many hours of work, too little free time and too little pay. Costales summarizes it this way: “The work we have is crazy, the social demand is there and it’s i.e. bad payment, “These are salaries that are not commensurate with our responsibilities, even as residents.”

The average wage for residents has increased by 11% since 2009, while rental prices have increased by 37%.