“There is an urgent need to save the first caregivers of the health system.” The medical regulation assistants (ARM) of the Samu ask for reinforcements and improvement of their profession, while the calls for 15 are skyrocketing due to the winter epidemics.
When you dial this emergency number, they are the ones who pick up the phone. They assess the degree of urgency and direct the call to the corresponding department. In some cases, they provide first aid from a distance.
The profession is “on the verge of implosion,” the French Association of Medical Regulation Assistants (Afarm), one of two organizations in the sector, wrote in a press release on Tuesday.
30 minute wait
According to the press release, at the national level there would have been between 55% more calls throughout the territory in recent weeks, according to figures from Samu – Urgences de France (SUdF).
“Our work is urgent. We are supposed to answer calls in less than 60 seconds,” Yann Rouet, co-chairman of Afarm, reminds franceinfo.
“In some departments there are 30-minute collection times, to have an ARM on the phone. This is an obvious danger to the population, ”she adds. But “if it takes us 30 minutes to answer a call, close to how many cardiorespiratory arrests or hangings can we pass?”
Strengthen the attractiveness of the profession.
First interlocutors of patients during calls to 15 centers, there are around 2,500 ARMs on French territory, according to Afarm, which calls for “800 more to work in more humane conditions”.
Training capacities have been increased, and should reach around 750 places by the end of 2023, compared to the current 400. But these courses, which last ten months, are far from complete. The organizations of the sector question the working conditions and the level of remuneration, which starts at 1,400 euros.
To enhance the attractiveness of the profession, they require that the ARM be paid in the “caregiver sector” -and not administrative- of the public hospital service, but also in the “active category” in order to benefit from early retirement.
A “breathless” profession
In addition, the representatives of the medical regulatory assistants demand better recognition of the “new positions of coordinator and supervisor”, to “give projection of the future” to the most experienced ARMs.
“Without status, without a communication campaign worthy of the name, we will not be able to recruit,” Yann Rouet, co-chairman of Afarm, told AFP, describing the professionals as “exhausted, who sometimes jump ship exhausted.”
The association requests “an urgent appointment” from the Minister of Health, François Braun, an emergency doctor a few months ago.
“Trade is at the limit of its strength and is giving one last warning cry. If it goes unattended again, it will be the last before an unprecedented national ARM movement,” the organization warns.
Source: BFM TV
