A few days ago, the question was put to the nurses.
Has the Covid crisis we are going through made you want to change jobs?
Out of 60,000 white coats, nearly 40% answered "yes" (consultation carried out with the Order of Nurses, from October 2 to 7, with its members).
The result surprises, even worries the national order of nurses at the origin of this consultation that we reveal.
"This figure is important, that is why we are launching the alert," warns its president Patrick Chamboredon.
There is growing discomfort in just six months ”.
At a time when the Covid tide is rising, with several cities on “heightened alert” or “maximum”, caregivers are at the end of their strength, to the point of making their coats white.
Lack of recognition, workload
Very attached to their profession, they resisted as long as they could.
But since March, nearly two-thirds say their working conditions have deteriorated while 34,000 of the 700,000 positions are vacant in this return.
Lack of recognition, too low wages, colossal workload ... Here again the figures are clear.
If 33% of nurses questioned believe that they were in professional burnout before the crisis, they are now 57% to consider themselves in burnout.
READ ALSO>
TRIBUTE.
These caregivers died on the front lines of the epidemic
Long before the epidemic, caregivers shouted their anger in the street against the lack of resources, equipment, staff at the hospital.
Then the wave came, they held on, at what cost?
One in five has not taken a vacation since March, even though hospitals in Paris “want” some caregivers to give up the All Saints leave to cope with the epidemic rebound.
“Not seeing the end of the tunnel when you're on the front line is very complicated,” explains Patrick Chamboredon.
Everyone is asking the same question: when is it going to end?
".
The plan of 8 billion euros announced this summer by the government during the “Ségur de la santé”, which was nevertheless of great magnitude, to renovate the system will not have been enough to calm the rumors.
PODCAST. "We are not being prepared for this!" : Léa, 26, medical intern, facing the coronavirus
Hospitalists on Thursday called for a new day of action for wages and massive hiring.
“We are told, you have the Covid, come to work anyway.
In my department, 5 nurses want to leave, testifies, in a sad tone, Arthur (the first name has been changed), who works in sheave in a hospital in the North.
Today, half of the service is full of coronavirus patients, but when we say that the epidemic is starting again, the population no longer believes us!
".
"The coronavirus has brought to light a suffering that already existed"
And the urge to throw away his gown does not germinate only among nurses.
The association "care for health professionals", which helps white coats, still receives five to ten calls per day from caregivers, from midwives to pharmacy assistants.
Of course, we are far from the 150 phone calls per day at the height of the crisis.
But at the end of the line, the rhetoric changed.
"Immediate fear has given way to fear of the future," describes Catherine Cornibert, director of actions in the association.
In March, caregivers spoke of the lack of protection, of the fear of being infected, today, they are anxious for the future.
Even if it remains a minority, some say "I quit, I can no longer".
These testimonies, we did not hear them before the epidemic ”.
In short, she says, "the coronavirus has brought to light a suffering that already existed, it has revealed the fed up".
Here, it is a nurse who will become a pastry chef.
There, an infectious disease nurse who changes departments.
"There is again a shortage of gloves, the masks always arrive in droplets, the staff is exhausted so many are off work, the nurses find themselves alone managing a floor of 15 heavy patients with a single nursing assistant.
Or even the life support, fallout, they say into oblivion.
"Between us, we call each other the invisible," says Christina, 46, who works in the Territoire de Belfort.
The Covid bonus, expected, at Christmas will not be enough to retain it.
"The epidemic was the last straw, we were applauded and then nothing," says the one who earns 1380 euros net after 25 years of work.
Christina slams the door.
She is already thinking about going to work in a supermarket which promises her a higher salary.