“Every day I went a little further back. One day I stopped going there”: words of nursing students who threw in the towel

Helena, Emile and Thibaut, all three of whom wished to remain anonymous, not only share a common age of twenty years and hope, but “go away” They say with regret that one day she will practice the profession of a nurse. They also have a countdown of the training time they have “held” before throwing in the towel. Not in months or semesters, but in the number of internships.

“I figured I wouldn’t go very far after the seventh”says Helena, who has barely recovered from this internship, which ended at the end of January at the new Aquitaine emergency department. “Too many stretchers in the corridors, too many patients waiting…” his “the dream” It came out briefly: “thisS Patients needed to take care of them, to stay with them, they had many questions… and I, facing this, felt very alone, I would not be able to help them…”

attended by qualified nurses, “understanding”but in insufficient numbers to support it and “Go back [elle] “. His Bachelor of Science and his courses, which he still thinks he’s mastered, don’t help him much, “practical cases” with whom he will find himself face to face.

In April, a few months into her third and final year of study, after another bad experience in oncology, Helena takes a break from training with herself. “IFSI”, One of the 337 Nursing training institutions with an enrollment of nearly 100,000 students. “It wasn’t really a choice: I couldn’tS just more »he says.

“I’m hitting the wall”

Emily, who has “everything stopped” In the middle of the second year of studys, Completed his fifth internship in general medicine at IFSI in Grand-Est“challenging” : “I felt myself, With too few tutors to supervise too many students like me. I didn’t promote, I didn’t studyS, and I knew it would be back, partial… I could see the delay building up. I was headed for failure. Every day I went a little further back. One day I stopped going there. »

Holder of a BA in Health and Social Technology, she thought she had “baggage” To succeed in this sector, one of the most sought after Parcoursup. “Nurse, I’ve always imagined that I’d be a . . .” He became frustrated. “I hit a wall that’s probably about my limits, but also the hectic pace that pushes you through alternating weeks of classes and internships. What you are asked to learn and do seemed to me to be inappropriate, too heavy…”