French hospitals will have to deal with about “a thousand” fewer interns in the fall, according to Lucas Poittevin, president of the National Association of Medical Students (Anemf). The reason is that a reform of the competition – aimed at better assessing practical skills and the course – came into force this year and “two cohorts of students” coexisted: those concerned by the new examination methods and other students “affiliated with the old system”, who repeated the year after failing in 2023.
Interns are final-year medical students who work full-time in hospitals or outpatient clinics, under the supervision of a senior doctor. To access the internship, students pass a competitive examination in their sixth year. The ranking plays a decisive role, as it allows them to choose, based on the rank obtained, the future specialty and the city in which they will do their internship. According to the Official Journal, 7,974 positions have been opened for the new class of interns who will start practicing in November, compared to 9,484 last year, or 1,510 fewer (-16%). The latter will be assigned via “a separate procedure”.
Failing grade
The government “has not chosen to reduce” the number of positions, explained Tuesday in West France the resigning Minister Delegate for Health, Frédéric Valletoux. This number has fallen proportionally to the number of students registered for the competition.
The reason for this drop-out: the famous reform, which introduced for the first time an eliminatory mark in the written exam, and an oral exam. A part of the class (7% against 3% usually according to the Conference of Deans of Medicine) strategically decided to repeat their fifth year, so as not to have to endure the rigors of the new competition. According to the government, around 2% of candidates failed the exams. A figure similar to other years.
More burden on doctors in office
An online petition launched by Hélène Hérubel, a Parisian student, and signed by nearly 20,000 people, denounces a “profound injustice” for the 2024 class. These students, who have dreamed of a specialty for years (surgery, cardiology, ENT, etc.), believe they were insufficiently prepared for the new modalities, modified in the middle of their course, and are asking the government to reopen positions in highly sought-after specialties.
According to several unions, interns represent 40% of the hospital medical workforce and their reduction risks further increasing the workload and on-call hours of practitioners in post. Professionals “are wondering how they are going to run their services” when “interns work 59 hours/week on average”, explains Guillaume Bailly, president of the National Intern Union (Isni). “This drop may be worrying but it is not a collapse”, this figure “will normally recover” from next year, with the arrival of repeaters, estimated Tuesday on France Inter Arnaud Robinet, president of the French Hospital Federation (FHF).