“At the beginning of the 2022 academic year, we already had about 20% of vacancies in the field of obstetrics, and in Ile-de-France this figure could rise to 37%! Luna Mourenas, spokeswoman for the National Association of Midwifery Students (ANESF), is loud about the number of vacancies in this sector in the second year of study.
But midwifery is not the only one suffering from this phenomenon: during the same period, the pharmacy sector recorded a student shortage of 30%, or about 1,027 places nationwide. Alarming figures indicate a coming crisis for professionals who are nonetheless essential for the proper functioning of the health system.
How to explain this lack of students? After the 2020 reform, young people who wish to continue their education in health care have the choice between the Access to Health Care Special Course (PASS) and the Access to Health Care Option License (LAS), both of which provide access to the second year of study. While the medical sector continues to attract so much attention from students, pharmaceuticals and midwifery continue to suffer from a lack of information and persistent stereotypes.
“There is a kind of sacralization of medicine”
According to Luna, the lack of students is partly due to the reform: “Not only competition matters anymore, you have to validate your entire license. The observation was shared by Loïc Josserand, dean of Simone Veil’s UFR at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. “Before the reform, a student who failed in the first year repeated the course and eventually was redirected to courses where there were still places. The default choice, of course, but it was prepared by professionals. “In his opinion, minors, integrated into new learning, allows you to save an exit in case of failure” in other subjects of interest to them. If they wish, they may retake medication in their second or third year of LAS. »
Nathan Goulin, Vice President of the National Association of Pharmaceutical Students of France (ANEPF), responsible for training in medical education, notes a general lack of information about his sector. “The reform emphasized the unattractiveness of the pharmacy sector: in high school, people do not know this environment at all. They are thinking about going into medicine, and there are many opportunities in pharmacies, not only to work in pharmacies! »
Because if these studies can lead to the creation of your own pharmacy, they will also allow you to work in a laboratory, in the pharmaceutical industry, or even in a hospital. For Renault, a 5th year pharmacy student from Nancy, this is a sector with “exciting” courses, although he had no idea of integrating it at all when he came to PACES.
In obstetrics, too, there are clichés. “Private training organizations harm us because they tell us that medicine is the best course. Many skills of midwives are unknown to the general public: gynecological observation, vaccination…” Luna Mourenas explains. So the medical sector will win the bet with the students?
For Loïc Josserand, the issue is the very image of medical research: “There is a kind of sacralization of medicine, there are many fantasies that are especially fed by serials where we see as soon as doctors or surgeons save patients. In fact, the medical professions are very diverse! We may well make prostheses and save someone’s life, this monopoly belongs not only to the medical sector. »
Orientation and leveling statuses
One of the solutions proposed to combat this phenomenon is the massive use of orientation systems, in particular through tutoring. According to NANEPF, only 2.6% of pharmacology students believe that they were well informed about these studies in high school. Institutional interventions, presentation videos, mini-games: everything is good to inspire and encourage activities among the little ones.
“We have a lot of recognition for tutoring activities and this is positive,” says Nathan Gulin, who attended the official presentation of the permits hosted by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research on June 26 last year.
More broadly, students point to the problem of recognition in a sector characterized by sometimes difficult working conditions. “In our survey, we see that over 20% of midwifery students say the Covid-19 crisis has impacted their learning experience,” Luna explains. Lou-Anne, who will return for her third year in Reims next September, for her part notes the underdevelopment, “whether in terms of remuneration or the fact that our status is not so recognized.”
“There’s always the issue of underpaid internships and the 3rd cycle reform that has gone nowhere in 7 years,” adds Nathan. Therefore, listening to the demands of these students seems necessary, and Loïc Josserand warns of a structural deficit: “In 4 years we will be there. The crisis is inevitable. »
Source: Le Parisien
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