Toulouse: nurses and nurse anesthetists want to be heard
On strike since November 2, the nurses and nurse anesthetists in front of the ARS of Thursday, November 25 (Regional Health Agency Occitanie) in Toulouse. They claim recognition of their specialty. Operations have been postponed to the CHU.
The blue coats were numerous this Thursday afternoon in front of the headquarters of the Regional Health Agency (ARS Occitanie). Blue gowns from operating theaters proudly worn by nurse anesthetists (IADE) from hospitals in Toulouse but also from neighboring departments. “We want to come out of the shadows, do not know who we are. We fear that our profession of nurse anesthetist will disappear, which would mean a loss of safety in the operating theaters, ”testify two anesthetic nurses from the Rodez hospital.
The IADEs have been mobilized since November 2 as part of a national movement to defend their specialty and demand recognition and upgrading of their status in connection with their training (two years more than a nurse). Their fear is that they will find themselves in an imbalance with better paid advanced practice nurses (APNs) despite shorter and less comprehensive training.
“Without us the blocks cannot turn”
“It is not really easy to make ourselves heard, there are a few of us, around 11,000 in France. The Ministry of Health is turning a deaf ear but we are still on strike and without us, the blocks cannot turn ”, testifies an IADE of the Toulouse University Hospital which announces that only 7 operating theaters out of 26 were able to function on Thursday in Purpan with a number of strikers close to 100%. On the side of the management of the Toulouse University Hospital, no figure has been communicated for the moment.
A delegation was received at the ARS which undertook to bring up the claims. At the same time, an IADE delegation was also received in Paris, at the Ministry of Health. The strikers, whose notice would run until November 25, have not yet decided what to do with their movement.