Several interns have been expelled from French hospitals for incompetence. Most had completed the first part of their studies in Romania, and thanks to the equivalence of European diplomas, had returned to France for their internship. But after a few weeks, they were taken out of the services and asked to follow a six-month refresher course.
- Why are these foreign-trained interns not up to standard?
Professor Philippe Jaury: “They have a training that is not sufficient for what we are asking for in terms of autonomy for our interns. We had already realized this last year. This year, we wanted to evaluate these students trained abroad so that no one can tell us that these are rumours. And the evaluation is quite appalling!
“These are medical students, interns, since they have been received in the competition even with 0 or 1 on their copy, who have a level of fourth, at best fifth year of medicine. Students trained in France have six years of study behind them. Sometimes there are language issues. It’s complicated but, ultimately, the language is learned quickly. But above all, they lack a lot of skills that we will not be able to make up for in six months.
- In medical training, there is theory, that is to say courses, and practice, that is to say contact with the patient. What part of the training are missing from these students?
Professor Philippe Jaury: “They miss them both. There are whole swaths of knowledge that they don’t have. On the other hand, they don’t have the practice. It is difficult to imagine putting them in a situation of autonomy in hospitals, entrusting them with guards… There are clinical signs that they do not know. They do not have the level in medical semiology. For example, they do not know how to interpret an electrocardiogram. When you’re on call, it’s annoying.
“A priori, there was no accident because we withdrew them quickly enough from the services. We realized very quickly that they did not have the level. As this is the second year that this has happened, we had already warned the department heads.
- You have alerted the Ministry of Health to this problem. What were you told?
Professor Philippe Jaury: “We have already seen the Ministries of Health and Higher Education last year. They just told us that “That’s how it is, it’s the European system. Do it yourself, it’s up to you to train them, you are the trainers. We don’t want waves! ». As a result, this year, all the universities were warned.
“In Ile-de-France, there are seven faculties which tried to identify these incompetent interns, at least in suffering, and we had warned the department heads. And, very quickly, we had feedback. The problem is when a hospital like Villeneuve-Saint-Georges finds itself with six interns of this category…
“When there is only one in scattered services, it is different. Most department heads took them aside. They exempted them from custody to train them. Some give them language lessons, but it is not tenable. I asked to be received at the Ministry of Health, I didn’t even get an answer. We did what we could. We put them in services to assess them, train them. And, in addition, they are paid. I can tell you that the Public Assistance which pays them is not very happy.”
Several avenues are being studied to prevent this problem from persisting. Some countries, such as Germany, impose a language test. The deans of the faculties of medicine also propose to put an eliminatory mark in the national ranking tests or ECN. This exam allows you to choose your specialty, depending on your place. However, regardless of the mark obtained, candidates can become interns and then practice.
