Despite ministerial injunctions, some hospitals (including CHUs) still do not apply the safety rest to which residents are entitled. The strike of November 17 is maintained.
“Madam Minister: enough fine words, it is time to take action!” This is the message sent a few days ago to Marisol Touraine by medical interns. According to them, health establishments still do not follow ministerial injunctions in terms of safety rest. Indeed, despite the “martial” words of the Minister pronounced last year at the University of ISNI’s re-entry, “the interns are not corvable to thank you”, nothing has changed according to the Inter Syndicat . However, in theory, the intern benefits from a safety rest at the end of each night shift lasting 11 hours immediately following the call.
A risk of medical error at stake
To assert this, the Inter Syndicat is based on a recent survey carried out by the Conference of Directors General (DG) of CHU concerning rest after a call.
The comparison with the results of the 2012 ISNI survey reveals a clear finding: in more than two years, not the slightest improvement for interns.
In figures, safety rest is still not applied in 20% of cases (more than 70% in surgery). And in nearly 70% of cases, it is not at the request of the head of the service. In addition, 57% of interns who did not have a safety rest continue with another day of work. “Beware of medical errors”, hammer home these interns.
As proof, the 2012 survey of the ISNI where 15% of the residents questioned declared having made medical errors of prescription, diagnosis or even operative act the day after on call. More than 39% of them also felt that they probably carried out without saying it with certainty.
Interns, the first victims of overwork
“Ironically,” for these trade unionists, “while the establishments blithely flout the rights of interns to safety rest and endanger patients, their representatives write to the Minister not to reform the working hours of internal! ISNI has indeed procured a letter, addressed to Marisol Touraine, by the FHF, the Conferences of CEOs of CHRUs and CH directors, the Conferences of CME Presidents of CHU, CH and CHS. Hospital representatives are worried about a “new” demand from interns aimed at integrating Saturday mornings during the on-going period of care.
Conclusion for ISNI, “it is high time to take strong, courageous and final measures to resolve the issue of interns’ working time. Two simple measures to take: a work week starting on Monday morning and ending on Friday evening (Saturday morning passing on call) and the review of the on-call status. “
As a reminder, according to the survey conducted by ISNI in 2012, an intern works an average of 60 hours per week. Other studies indicate that more than 65% of interns on hospital placements work more than 50 hours per week. And in some extreme cases, interns can even do up to 90 hours per week for an emergency or surgery internship, for example. Because of this, ISNI recalls that the interns have overwhelmingly planned to come and express their anger in front of the Ministry of Health on November 17. The strike announced in October is therefore maintained.
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