C. Ammirati: “The university allows the integration of post-baccalaureate paramedical education into the LMD system”

The integration of secondary medical professions into the university is a process that has been ongoing since 2009 with the law on the freedoms and duties of universities. But concretely, even if some progress has been made – especially in the area of ​​leave -, secondary medical education still remains outside the university domain. From October 2022, Christine Ammirati, the former health advisor of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, is leading the mission to implement this major project.

Can you explain in detail what “universityization of paramedical education” means in concrete terms?

More specifically, what are the objectives of the mission entrusted to you?

The the mission letter was signed on October 7, 2022 by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. It’s my rolesupport for the universityization of health training. This letter follows the commitment of two previous ministers, whom François Braun and Sylvie Retallo are also interested in supporting.

More specifically, there is four areas to develop during this mission (no duration):

– The “contract” component with the need to create a framework agreement between stakeholders (local authorities, universities and training) before rolling it out in each area. The review should be general and not sector specific. These are the general principles to be uncovered.

– “Diploma and training engineering” component : the diploma must be awarded by a university, but having a university degree implies adequate engineering training. We travel with LMD building skill blocks. These blocks will allow you to confirm the acquired knowledge, useful for gateways or reorientations.

We travel with LMD implementation of skill blocks that will validate acquired knowledge useful for gateways or referrals.

– “Research and control” component : we have to think status of current trainers and directors of institutions but also to think about his place in the university the status of teacher-researchers. There are already paramedic teachers, but these teachers are “mono-affiliated”, depend on the Ministry of Higher Education, and do not have a clinical side. The idea is to move towards dual membership not only in the hospital, but also in the ambulatory, as in the fields of medicine, which have an academic and a clinical part.

– “Student rights” section From the moment the students are in the university, for the stated purpose they should have equal rights. This includes voting rights, access to Crous scholarships, etc.

The integration of paramedics into the university is a topic dating back to the late 2000s: why is the process not moving forward?

We have been talking about this process since 2009 with the law on freedoms and duties of universities. All this time, however, things have evolved: A certain number of courses have led to a bachelor’s degree and especially a master’s degree.

On the other hand, the texts were very few and there are obvious territorial differences. Thus, there is a need for a national framework with territorial variations. We have taken a step back from what was seen, now we must come to the principles. One of the brakes is the lack of this framework.

This is a big change that raises a lot of fears, especially on a financial level…

The agreement will also allow removing the brakes on delegations. There is a lot of work to be done in the direction of the professionalization of secondary medical personnel at the university. This is something we have to continue working together. We can have university-specific standards of professional competence, but with academic freedom and rigor in supervision and practice. There is consensus that we can work on this trajectory.

There is a lot of work to be done in the aspect of professionalization of secondary medical personnel in the university.

We are not going to sweep the financial issue under the carpet. Financial schemes should be legible and transparent for different actors.

But I am not alone in this mission: we have a limited management team that will create working groups with students, representatives of universities, French regions, regional health agencies, representatives of institute directors and students to discuss these aspects. This project must be built together.

In the beginning, the ambition of universityization was also to bring future caregivers together to bring more professionalism. Is it still relevant?

there are practices that aim the university brings together secondary medical education. However, it is true that a certain number of – significant – institutes are not close to universities, this is a matter of Ifsi. [institut de formation en soins infirmiers] especially. Experiments started in 2020 aim aims to promote, bridge and facilitate these exchanges.

The idea is to bring partners together, It is an interesting stage for university education.

Currently, 26 projects are underway and will be developed by 2026. In the first stage (up to bac+3) projects are concerned. dual courses that allow students to integrate their masters, which encourages research pursuits. There are also projects in the second cycle (bac+5). dual courses between secondary medical education (physiotherapist, speech therapist, specialized nurses, etc.) and his master (health engineer, public health, management, etc.).

Experiments are important to show what this can bring concretely. The idea is to bring partners together, It is an interesting step for the university. Today’s dream of the two ministries is different take the university out of its walls in the field of healthcare.