an unprecedented alarm. Which assumes a decline in the quality of medical care in emergency situations without a sudden change of course. On closer inspection, the professionals who launch it – whether they are doctors or nurses – reveal how the universal protection of our health system is at risk. Go to an emergency room synonymous with urgency. Those who do need to be seen right away. If those who work there in conditions of deep stress, under-staff, massacred by shifts that are no longer manageable, terrified of complaints and forced to costly insurance coverage, then the picture becomes merciless. and signals the need to rethink the model of immediate response to patient requests.
Protest
It was launched by Simeu, the representative association
of the doctors and nurses of the emergency room and of 118, who on Tuesday decided to stage a protest to raise awareness in the institutions that the limit is now exceeded. The disturbing fact – writes Simeu – that the loss of professionals has now reached its historical maximum levels and today is very close to compromising, in a decisive way, the quality of the assistance offered, worsening the level of clinical risk for the health of citizens. In reality, we can affirm that we are faced with the concrete possibility of a failure which affects the entire National Health System. A harsh indictment that inevitably questions the competent ministry, the one led by Roberto Speranza, but on balance the whole government considering the resources of the Pnrr, the European recovery and resilience plan, which allocate a large part of funds to the Health chapter .
The shortage of staff
The intentions of strengthening the health system
we know them. They are made explicit at each conference. For the current cross-section it signals the profound shortcomings of what we could call a sensational loss of appeal by the ERs from which healthcare professionals flee due to the risks involved in working there. The discomfort is confirmed almost every day by the choice of the many who accelerate outbound routes, preferring new areas of work and specialties or pension slides. The generational change is no longer assured: the lack of attraction that the discipline has on young graduates was highlighted by a specialist school which registers dropouts, year after year, and scholarships not awarded, Simeu points out.
Today there is a shortage of around 4,000 doctors and 10,000 nurses Emergency Department and 118. The competitions are deserted in all Italian regions with the simultaneous abandonment of professionals. Approximately 50% of the Scholarships of the Emergency Urgency Specialty were not awarded in the academic year 2021/22, due to lack of interest of recent graduates. Simeu reports 18% of student dropouts in the 2020/21 academic year.
Doctors for rent
The criticisms are well known and should perhaps be noted
. The current working conditions of doctors and nurses do not allow them to have the right and necessary times of rest, psycho-physical recovery and space to devote to their training and essential professional updates. The complex and unique specialty: it embraces knowledge and skills that belong to other disciplines. The activity cannot be delegated to “hired doctors”, to new graduates who are not adequately trained or to service cooperatives.
Equivalences and affinities should be reviewed, guaranteeing fair career prospects, a reform on the modalities of access for young professionals currently in Postgraduate School, assistance measures and legal protections, protection from episodes of aggression and violence in the workplace. Emergency Medicine Urgency should be a specialty legitimized in its role due to its specific skills, starting with the denomination which should coincide with that of the Specialization School, as is the case for other medical specialties.