One of the reasons that explains the difficulties of hospitals in coping with demand, the waiting times in the emergency room and the closure of beds in certain departments is the lack of personnel. And this lack of personnel is probably due to the lack of attractiveness of the nursing profession, but also to the fact that resignations are constantly increasing. This is what we see when reading a study published this Thursday by the Ministry of Health.
DREES experts have analyzed the professional career of nurses during the period 1989-2019. And the observation is that ten years after having started, three quarters of the young graduates have remained faithful to their initial vocation, but only a large half (54%) continue to practice it in the hospital environment.
After 10 years in the hospital, one in five nurses have stopped working or changed jobs entirely
Among the other half a small share (7%) still work at the hospital but have changed jobs, mostly after working their way up the hierarchy to become a healthcare manager. All the others have left their original employers. Among these resigned, 11% continue to practice their profession for someone else, for example in a medical analysis laboratory or in nursing homes. And almost the same number (10%) have chosen the status of liberal nurse. Finally, almost one in five graduates have changed their profession and work environment or have stopped working altogether.
This study does not refer to the most recent resignations, related to the Covid crisis, heNursing unions point out that the growing number of resigned workers who have gone to work abroad, to Switzerland, Luxembourg or Belgium, where working conditions and pay are better, are not taken into account.
15,000 nursing positions will be covered in public hospitals
These figures show in any case the magnitude of the difficulties faced by hospitals in terms of human resources. Between resignations and the lack of candidates for the offered nursing positions, the number of vacancies continues to increase. The French Federation of Hospitals estimated it last year at 15,000.
To meet a demand that goes far beyond the needs of the public hospital, Nursing schools will have to train more people. Assigned objective: to go from 32,000 to 40,000 new graduates per year. It is still necessary for the profession to continue generating enough vocations. The latter is not only motivated by the level of remuneration. The work environment and the feeling of being able to do well what one has been trained for are many other key elements of recognition.
More than 20% of nursing students throw in the towel before graduating
That is why, in recent years, the first professional experiences of nursing students, during their practices, do not facilitate generational renewal. The proportion of nursing students who drop out after discovering the reality of their future working conditions has tripled in about ten years.
The dropout rate from the first year reaches 10% according to another DREES study. And if we take the three years of training necessary to obtain the diploma, the percentage of students who throw in the towel exceeds 20%. I drop out before I even start, quit mid-career… It’s hard to see a way out of the nursing shortage.
Source: BFM TV
