Orleans emergencies: 3 weeks of paralysis, months of discomfort

Marion Gauthier 6:18 a.m., April 22, 2022

“We have been alerting for months,” laments Doctor Matthieu Lacroix, emergency doctor at the Orleans regional hospital.

For three weeks, nearly 90% of the nurses and caregivers in his service have been on leave.

"The massive movement of our caregivers made us realize that what we accept on a daily basis is not acceptable," he explains.

The 30-year-old stares helplessly at the empty boxes, at the “almost new” equipment at a standstill.

"A waste", he blurts out, before showing another deserted room: "For a week now, we have not even been able to accommodate vital emergencies here, within the emergencies themselves, because we no longer have the trained nurses working!"

Nurses have to manage more than 20 patients at a time

"The rule would be that there are 8 to 10 patients per emergency nurse, but the activity has continued to increase, up to 20 to 25 patients at a time per nurse", explains the practitioner.

The Loiret is one of the "most serious" medical deserts in France: emergencies are a usual recourse for patients, often without a doctor, while the staff is lacking.

>> Find Europe Matin in replay and podcast here

"The problem is downstream of the emergency room", for Doctor Lacroix.

Several departments of the hospital are struggling, 150 beds have recently closed on the floors, for lack of staff, which lengthens the waiting time in the emergency room.

"Not so long ago, when someone spent more than 24 hours in the emergency room, everyone was moved by it, but in recent months people have been spending three or even four days on stretchers, it's really mad !"

the doctor says indignantly, pointing to the thin navy blue mattress in front of him.

“Meal trays are when nurses can”

"You can't sleep! We wash you in front of the neighbor, you can't really eat because the caregivers are so overwhelmed that the meal trays are when they can," he explains. .

"When you call the nurse, she can't come right away either, so if you need to urinate, it's not clear how to do it," he adds.

Matthieu Lacroix points to a box without windows: "If you have someone who is old, who is already a little lost, you leave them there for three days, they no longer know where they are!"

Unworthy reception conditions that increase the risks for patients and the guilt of caregivers.

"Announcing cancer to someone in the middle of a hallway", breathes Julie*, a freshly graduated nurse.

"I didn't even have three minutes to chat. I never could have imagined that I would be going through this stuff."

She has just returned from three weeks of sick leave.

The impression of having deserted, but the certainty of having done so for the right reasons.

"It was no longer possible," repeats the young woman.

"I was no longer in care, but in technique. I did an infusion, a blood test, and I started again, I started again."

“Even the animals are treated better”

The "drop too much"?

A patient found dead in the crowded corridors of the emergency room.

An "expected" death, explains Julie, "but we don't want to let people end their lives like that," she adds.

"It's been weeks since we took turns crying," she continues.

"Our doctors arrived, saw the ton of patients, came out crying. One day, I was there, with the patient, three colleagues and all four of us were crying."

“Patients are humans, they are not animals. Even animals are treated better,” says Élodie*, a colleague, her eyes extinguished.

"It disgusted me with the nursing profession".

A caregiver still in training admits to having also asked herself the question: "Are you sure you want to stay there?"

It's hard to imagine a sequel to the hell of these corridors that they know by heart, to give up a job that they claim to still love "but will things really change?" Asks Élodie, without conviction.

>> LISTEN AGAIN

- The fascinating powers of hypnosis on caregivers

Better working conditions demanded

The caregivers claim not to ask for a salary increase, but for beds, on all floors of the hospital, to better distribute the patients.

"And staff!" Adds Matthieu Lacroix, for whom the problem goes beyond the Orleans CHR.

"In the department, he underlines, there are half as many trained nurses as in the department next door."

Lack of attractiveness of the paramedical professions in general and absence of short-term solutions: for the end of the crisis, "despair sets in".

*Names have been changed.