Midwives strike: what a day of care at the hospital looks like

HÔPITAL - Les wises-womens sont en grève les 24, 25 et 26 septembre. L’Organisation Nationale des Syndicats des wises-womens (ONSSF) réclame “un grand chantier sur les conditions de pratique” du métier, une revalorisation des modes d’exercice ( les salaires et aides forfaitaires) et des conditions de formation révisées.

Among the strikers are in particular Élise, midwife in Auvergne and creator of the account.wise.women. Elle a récemment raconté son histoire sur le réseau social dans une publication très commentée et qui fait notamment écho au hashtag #1women1wisewomen lancé par Clémentine Sarlat, créatrice du podcast La Matrescence.

Élise returns to one of the worst days of her career.Between filled and patient birth rooms accumulating in the waiting room, her colleague and she are overwhelmed.The same evening, she writes, exhausted, in the hope of releasing the pressure.A week later, she posts on her profile this story in which she describes the conditions under which her colleagues and they work;and the consequences that can be terrible on patients.

Contacted by the HuffPost, she adds: "If I didn't say what's going on, it would never come out".

Sur son compte Instagram, la wise-women décrit une organisation extrêmement tendue: “Il est 6h45, j’arrive pour prendre ma garde en salle de naissance (SDN). Nous sommes 2 wises-womens en 12h30 et 1 SF qui réalisent les consultations programmées et urgence de 8h à 15h.There are 4 patients in NTCs, in work.No maternity room is available.Patients who will give birth therefore do not have a room.3 Caesareans are scheduled for this day + 2 triggers ”.

Patient sharing

For two, Élise and her colleague share the patients who are already present. La jeune women doit s’occuper de trois accouchements en même temps: “Mme X, 2ème bébé, projet d’accouchement sans péridurale, 7cm.Ms. Y, 1st baby, trigger in progress.I welcome Mme Z, which has just broken the water pocket and gets into work."The latter must nevertheless stay in the examination room since there is no longer any room available.

In parallel, Madame X's baby “To the head passing from pink, purple then blue”.“The doctor arrives, baby is offset spontaneously.Phew ”, explains Élise who specifies that all this happens before noon, that the phone does not stop ringing and that there are still patients in the waiting room. La wise-women doit jongler entre toutes les urgences, des locaux trop petits, mais aussi les impératifs administratifs.

"I try in advance in my papers, indeed I have three files late.I spend more time on the computer than in the room, "she comments.

Emergency above all

Of this day, Élise will remember that she could not be present for each of the patients.After her colleague left, she finally tells a patient who has been there for almost 10 hours that childbirth will be done the next day and that she cannot trigger it.

À 19 heures et 10 bébés accueillis plus tard, les wises-womens de nuit de sa maternité arrivent pour prendre le relais.

Élise explains that she has not been in the toilet or ate since the start of her service."With my colleague several times during the day, we thought it was the worst guard of our life, thinking about it, no, I lived the worst last year.But this one is part of the top 3 ″, she says.

"I got into my car, I cried, cried with fatigue and being unhappy with the work provided today.Not to have been able to accompany patients as I wanted and what they deserved.However, all day, they said to me thank you and understood that we were exceeded.But it is not normal for you to pass it and your baby, "deplores the health professional.

A general fed up

À travers son compte Instagram, Élise souhaite faire prendre conscience des conditions dans lesquelles les wises-womens exercent.“Lack of means, lack of staff, overtime.What I describe to you there is the sad reality of a lot of French maternities. Les conditions de travail actuelles des wises-womens sont exécrables et pour 1800€ par mois, nuits, week-end et jours fériés inclus”.

Selon la jeune women, le champ de compétence des wises-womens s’élargit d’année en année.But she finds that behind, there is no revaluation of wages or recognition from the government."My job is my passion, but that day, it was like channel work, with conditions really not terrible.” Dans la maternité d’Élise, toutes les wises-womens sont grévistes. Elle espère de ces jours de mobilisation, plus d’empathie et d’égard envers ce métier majoritairement féminin et au service des womens et de leurs nouveau-nés.

A voir également sur Le HuffPost: “Je suis maltraitante ”: le cri du cœur de cette wise-women qui lance un appel non-négociable: une wise-women pour chaque women