To become a nurse, you must follow a training course in a Nursing Training Institute (IFSI) via wishes formulated on Parcoursup. Course of studies, diploma, specializations, exercise in the hospital, in liberal: all to know.
What studies to become a nurse?
Today, nursing studies take place outside the university. Students must training in a nursing training institute (IFSI). There are nearly 330 in France. The duration of the training is 3 years, divided into six semesters of twenty weeks each. The teaching is divided between theoretical training (2,100 hours) and clinical training (2,100 hours) through internship periods in professional settings related to health and care. “The state diploma (DE) is obtained after 3 years of training and allows you to exercise your professional activity“, explains Marion Guibert, nurse DE, at the hospital of Mantes-La-Jolie (78). To obtain this diploma, it is necessary that ten skills have been acquired. The student must also present his Final work (TFE), research work on a question that he has chosen to argue.
“Since 2019, entry into IFSI is no longer done by competitive examination but via wishes formulated on Parcoursup“, recalls our interlocutor. This concerns high school students in the final year as well as anyone holding a baccalaureate in professional reorientation or retraining. To select candidates, the IFSI take into account the following criteria:
- Quality of the academic record.
- Quality of the motivation paragraphs, which the candidate can fill in on Parcoursup.
- Motivation for the training, which is particularly valued through the internships that the candidate can carry out.
- The fact of having prepared for entry into training.
In nursing training, 50% of the time is spent in a training institute and 50% in practical internships in an intra- or extra-hospital environment. The trainees perceive a progressive monthly allowance ranging from €92 in the 1st year to €160 in the 3rd year. The contents of the theoretical studies are divided into Teaching Units (UE), which cover knowledge in different medical fields (cardiology, infectious diseases, etc.), and specific knowledge related to nursing care. The evaluation of knowledge and skills is carried out either by a continuous and regular control, or by a final examination, or by these two modes of combined controls. Teaching units are acquired according to the principles of capitalization and compensation. The teaching units are definitively acquired and can be capitalized as soon as the student has obtained the average for each of them or by application of the terms of compensation.
► Since 2018, 2nd year health students provide health services. They are led, for three months, to carry out preventive actions in schools, universities, nursing homes, medico-social structures, companies and even, in the long term, in prisons, around different themes: food , physical activity, addictions or even sexual health.
Can you specialize by being a nurse?
Several specializations are possible once the State nursing diploma has been obtained, in particular in the field of childcareanesthesia (IADE), operating room (IBODE) or Occupational Health. “For IADE and IBODE specializations, it is necessary to justify a minimum of 2 years of practice“, specifies Marion Guibert. These complementary studies of a variable duration are accessible by competition, and are also sanctioned by a State diploma.
Liberal, hospital: where to practice as a nurse?
The state nursing diploma is now recognized as an equivalent of the license in the LMD course (Bachelor-Master-Doctorate). The vast majority of those who obtain it, that is to say 85%, practice in the hospital. The others choose to work in schools, in occupational medicine structures or in liberal cabinets (after 5 years of practice).
Thanks to Marion Guibert, DE nurse, at the François Quesnay hospital in Mantes-La-Jolie (78).