The operating room nurses were on strike this Tuesday, May 25 in various hospitals in France to demand recognition of their work and a salary increase. In Chartres, two thirds of the staff participate in this national movement.
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They call themselves the IBODE. Nothing to do with a new robot or an artificial intelligence system, this name is in fact the acronym of “state-certified operating room nurse”.
Their mission: to prepare equipment and care, to take charge of the patient during his presence in the operating room, to ensure that hygiene rules are respected and to assist the surgeon.
Undervalued risks
In hospitals, there are about thirty of them doing this job, like Guylaine, close to retirement. A nurse since 1983, she started working in the operating room in 1989, without having the corresponding diploma at the time.
A few years later, she decided to go back to school for specialized training, to make up for her lack of knowledge. “There are many things that I knew how to do, she says, but I didn’t have any details, for example how an electrosurgical unit works, the risks for the patient …“
She obtained her state diploma as an operating theater nurse in 1998. “When we leave school, we realize that we were doing things that we did not control, that there were risks that we did not even imagine, so we put our careers and especially the patients in danger“, she warns.
€ 3,000 gross at the end of the career
Guylaine is no exception: she affirms that today it is not uncommon for non-specialized nurses to work in the operating room and to be “trained at the workplace for one year, two years, in duplicate. It is dangerous because there is a lot of technology, and it is becoming more and more technical.“
It is therefore for a better supervision of this profession that she has chosen to respond to the call for a strike by the CGT union and the national collective Inter-Blocs, this Tuesday, May 25, with about twenty sisters at Chartres hospital, as shown in this photo taken by the CGT union. This day, all interventions are canceled except emergencies.
Nursing staff in the operating room on strike this Tuesday, May 25 at Chartres hospital.
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© St. Gaudemer / CGT
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The IBODEs also consider that they are unfairly remunerated. Despite a five-year course (three years of study to be a nurse + 18 months to 2 years of study to specialize in the operating room), Guylaine receives for example 3,000 € gross at the end of her career, while she and her colleagues have “the lives of patients between [leurs] mains“replies Noëlle, also IBODE at the end of her career.
The latter was part of the block personnel redeployed during the waves of the pandemic, but she felt totally forgotten by the state: “we had a salary increase of 16 € net with the Ségur de la Santéshe breathes, as if it were just a crumb.
Unrecognized hardship
Angry, the nurses therefore ask for the recognition of their training in master’s 2 and a Salary increase linked to the level of studies, their responsibility, and the arduousness of the work. “We’re up all day or all night lists Noëlle, we have patients completely asleep so we have to carry them, lift them, put them in place. But we absolutely do not recognize the physical strain of our profession.“
This hardship is now increased by the lack of manpower. With 33 nurses, “onot enough to run nine operating rooms during the day and emergencies 24 hours a day, assures Noëlle. We have to come back to work overtime extremely regularly.“
Hours that risk turning into extra days with the pandemic. Half of the operations had in fact been canceled to free up beds and staff for the Covid resuscitation service. However, these interventions are being reprogrammed.
A workforce “up to standard”
On the side of management, we nuance. “Since these are specialized trades, it is still a little more complicated to recruit than when it comes to a non-specialized nurse., admits Yvon Le Tilly deputy director responsible for communication. It sometimes happens that, for lack of external recruitments, the establishment favors internal training and promotion.“
But according to him, the workforce is “roughly up to standard“, although the number may appear”insufficient“as soon as there are more activities in the operating room or more absenteeism.
No government reaction
On the question of salaries, the hospital management disclaims all responsibility. “By definition, salary scales are set at the national level, explains Mr. Le Tilly. So the hospital establishment respects the right to strike, this is easily explained in the sense that the nursing staff were particularly in demand throughout the health crisis. But we cannot intervene.“
We must therefore seek answers at the highest level. The professional collective Inter-Blocs tried to meet the Minister of Health Olivier Véran in Paris. Obviously unsuccessful since the latter went to visit Avignon.
The blue wave ???????? sweeps across France ????????????
The operating room nurses are angry!@olivierveran snub us and we are offered @Seb_Delescluse…
This contempt is unacceptable!@Sante_Gouv appointment at 1pm!#StopAuMépris#RendezMoiMaNBI# day of struggle pic.twitter.com/LlvtwCDGwr– Inter-Blocs collective (@CBlocs) May 25, 2021
The Ministry of Health has also made no statement for the moment on this non-renewable national movement which ends this Wednesday, May 26 at 8 am.
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