Faced with the shortage of many healthcare personnel in Switzerland, it is urgent to train more young people. There is interest, assures the director of the Haute Ecole de Santé Vaud Carole Wyser, but it is still necessary to have sufficient training skills.
The coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated the shortage of nursing staff in Switzerland, and not just of nurses, a third of whom leave the profession very quickly.
“Many health workers are suffering and it is important to have a global vision of the shortage”, immediately notes the general director of the Haute Ecole de Santé Vaud (HESAV) invited on Monday by La Matinale de la RTS.
We need to address this situation as a whole to find answers.
“We can talk about a shortage of midwives, physical therapists, medical radiology technicians, occupational therapists, community workers or operating rooms,” explains Carole Wyser. “You really have to look at this situation as a whole to find answers.”
Last Thursday, the University of Lausanne awarded degrees to 225 recent graduate students. But that’s too little, confirms the director, who points out that everyone has already found work. “So they were highly anticipated by the health care system.”
Lack of internship places
It would be necessary to be able to train more people in these health professions, but, for some, it is impossible. “We have regulated professions, with a limited number of places in midwives and physiotherapy,” explains Carole Wyser.
And this is particularly related to the limited number of apprenticeship places. “We are a university but of professional training,” he recalls. “That means around 40 weeks of practical training during the three years of graduate training. And so we depend on the places [de stage] made available.”
The shortage prevents an increase in the number of students
![Carole Wyser, Director General of the Haute Ecole de Santé Vaud (HESAV). [VD.CH]](https://www.rts.ch/2022/11/21/07/11/13560826.image?w=320&h=320)
It is therefore a vicious circle: “The shortage prevents an increase in the number of students. And at the same time, the system has to accommodate more students to be able to respond to the shortage”, deplores Carole Wyser.
Today, for example, around 400 candidates are waiting to enter the physiotherapy course at HESAV, which can only take 20%. Conversely, other sectors lack young candidates. This is the case for nursing or medical radiology technicians.
Then the question of attractiveness arises: “It is also important to show its significance, its beauty,” emphasizes this training specialist. “In recent months much emphasis has been placed on the difficulty of these professions and it is important to restore nobility to them, in order to make them attractive to our young people”.
Need for multi-level answers
Answers therefore need to be provided at multiple levels. It is a question of making certain professions more attractive, and therefore of working conditions in particular. “But we must also be able to increase the number of people to be trained while maintaining the level of quality of training,” observes the head teacher.
It is really important to have a global vision on a Swiss level.
And for Carole Wyser, the solution must be national. “It is really important for us to have a global vision and to be able to provide answers on a Swiss level in terms of complementarity in the different professions.”
Interview by David Berger/oang
