Notice of the French National Academy of Medicine on practitioners qualified outside the European Union (Padhue)[1]
More than 10 000 candidates applied for 2 700 positions in the latest knowledge assessment competition (KAC) for practitioners qualified outside the European Union (Padhue). Around 2 000 of them, not laureates but working in healthcare departments, sometimes for several years, are in a precarious administrative situation. Although the Minister of Health, Ms. Catherine Vautrin, recently decided to regularize them temporarily, their situation is difficult to bear.
The French National Academy of Medicine (ANM):
– Considers that the recruitment of “Padhue” practitioners is necessary and must continue to face, alongside their colleagues with French diplomas, the difficulties of access to healthcare for a large part of the French population.
– However, considers essential that their medical skills and the necessary mastery of French language be evaluated in the knowledge assessment. The level of requirements of the theoretical tests of this exam may vary depending on the specialties and must be enriched by the experience acquired by the candidate in hospitals with a public service mission. This experience, authenticated by the heads of departments in which they have worked, can modulate the length of additional training, called the consolidation period, currently set at 2 years. The deans of medical faculties will have to ensure the quality of supervision during this period. Passing the exam by these practitioners, who are no longer students, will entitle them to apply for a position in the department of their choice, in order to sustain team cohesion. Moreover, those who have not passed the KAC, after a number of failures to be determined, should be directed towards other healthcare professions.
– Recommends that a better coordination between hospital administrations, regional health agencies and regional administrative authorities should reduce the long file processing times leading to administrative difficulties.
– Considers, in the light of the French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal recent general policy speech, that these proposals, based on a strict assessment of skills, a framework for the training period and a possible choice by these practitioners of their place of practice, constitute the preferred procedure for strengthening the medical management of hospitals with a public service mission.
[1] Text adopted by the Board of Directors on 5/02/2024.
Bull Acad Natl Med 2024;208:418. Doi : 10.1016/j.banm.2024.02.004
