The ongoing coronavirus crisis poses considerable challenges to the usual learning process of pupil nurses as hospital activities were reduced, Aleps representatives explained. They added that many pupils were recruited for the medical reserve corps, which means that they do not complete the internships they would have completed under normal circumstances. This unprecedented situation should not come at the expense of the budding nurses, Aleps stressed, adding that the communication between the ministries and the association had been poor.
Aleps underlined that this poor communication had been the reason why the CDD contracts of pupil nurses recruited for the medical reserve had been cancelled prematurely. As a reminder, budding nurses and pupils in related medical fields had joined the ranks of Luxembourg's medical reserve corps to look after the increased amount of patients when the pandemic broke out. They were officially employed by the state and were paid for their efforts. The CDD contracts were meant to expire on 28 May. An email then informed the young medical staff that their contract would already expire on 11 May. The pupils were asked to continue working in unpaid internships. As Woxx magazine had reported, this controversial decision sparked outrage from the young nurses, who felt treated unfairly as they would have been required to do the same work without being paid.
The harsh criticism led the government to back-pedal. Officials decided that the pupils would be paid for those two weeks after all. A part of the pupils will also be able to complete the internships they had been meant to do before the pandemic broke out.
According to Aleps president Gilles Evrard, the ongoing crisis should not be allowed to take a toll on the education of the prospective nurses. "Our main goal during this crisis is to make sure that the pupils can continue their training as well as possible, that they fulfill the main objectives, and [...] that they can do the internships prescribed by the European directive", he explained.
According to the association, the communication between the ministries and on-site coordinators had been poor for years. Aleps accused the ministries of not listening to the medical teachers. "It is a problem for the future of the country. We have pointed out for years that it is important to invest in the training [of pupil and student nurses]," Evrard said.
The association hopes to meet with the ministries in the near future.
After harsh criticism: Ministry of Health reacts to accusations from pupil nurses
