Due to a lack of supervisors, there are no more interns at the Caen University Hospital: "We're keeping the hospital afloat on €1,700."

A disaster for the hospital. At the emergency department of the Caen University Hospital , the internships of 20 medical residents scheduled to begin this Monday have been cancelled. The reason? A shortage of attending physicians to supervise the future healthcare professionals, with current supervisors warning of their already heavy workload.

This is not the first time this decision has been made; back in 2021, in a hospital in Île-de-France, supervisors announced they could not take charge of the interns: "It is a rather rare decision which will become all the more frequent because we are not giving enough human and material resources and the interns are holding the public hospital on their shoulders," warns Mélanie Debarreix, president of the Isni (National Union of Interns) and Radiology Intern in Dijon, on RMC Story this Monday.

"The interns are exhausted, afraid to speak out because they remain students and when they speak out, we are forced to suspend accreditations," she adds.

Because without interns, there are fewer caregivers for the Caen hospital : "There will be repercussions. We are removing 20 interns, therefore 20 doctors at the Caen University Hospital. Being an intern means being a doctor but also a student. We need supervision and staff around us and when they are not there, we are poorly supervised," insists Mélanie Debarreix.

But where are the experienced doctors to supervise the interns? "Not in the public hospital," laments the medical student.

"Many do not stay because in France, we have difficulty attracting and retaining doctors; we do not give them the means to do so."

Accepting interns without supervision would have put patients and future doctors at risk : "The interns would be exhausted when we have a special condition in terms of mental health with 3x more depression than the population, a suicide every 20 days and 66% burnout", warns Mélanie Debarreix.

"Our colleagues are falling on the front lines, it's like we're fighting a war, because we're carrying the public hospital. People don't realize how complicated the life of an intern is."

All this for 1,700 euros per month for Bac +7 and Bac +12, with 60 hours per week, up to 120 hours for surgical interns and with almost the same level of decision-making responsibility as tenured doctors: "There is overload, stress and after a while, the bomb explodes," concludes Mélanie Debarreix.

Due to a lack of available places at the Caen University Hospital, the interns concerned will be distributed among other hospitals in the region.