Vocation is the happiness of having one’s passion as a profession.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Stendhal thus defined in The Red and the Black what is now attributed to several professions: medicine, law, teaching, etc.
In fact, there is the sense of vocation, which some evoke in terms of their high level of involvement, regardless of the field. There is also the vocation in the popular mind, which expresses the observation of seeing someone give their time, their expertise without counting, without expecting recognition. Even more, there is the expected vocation whereas it is insinuated and expected that the desire to do medicine, for example, necessarily comes with the imprint of a vocational impulse. This is probably the case, although the desire to combine science and human relations is as much an opportunity as a vocation.
On the other hand, there is reason to wonder whether the vocation still exists in the public services. Worse still, does the State act in such a way as to make the vocational inclinations of its professionals disappear?
We constantly talk about the lack of staff in hospitals. Concomitantly, there have never been so many retirements since the cuts of the Bouchard era. We must ask ourselves why and what impact this abandonment of vocation has on the provision of care and on its organization. If the call of vocation plays a role in the choice of the future, it is more than demonstrable that it is eroding. Individually and collectively.
Those who leave give way, in particular, through a loss of enthusiasm and consideration for the services rendered. This is a worrying finding for the integrity of the professions.
Nurses older than my age are rare in the hospital. They retire as soon as their pension fund permits. Whether it’s those who work day/evening/night or those who have a regular daytime schedule. There is, moreover, reason to wonder whether the abandonment of the vocational and professional aspect does not explain this disaffection, when a minority of nurses take part in the difficult evening and night duty shifts and a majority does not collaborate in the care effort. On-call duty is defined as the duties incumbent on a group of professionals to ensure continuity of care.
At the medical level, there are still rules ensuring professionalism over time, imposing, strictly for those who work in hospitals, an on-call schedule. No breach exists in the schedule. When medical coverage runs out, it regularly makes the headlines. For nurses, this means mandatory overtime.
The government would like the “vocation” to lead to self-sacrifice and service without counting the cost. Considering the poor conditions that the government offers to its professionals, in defiance of their expertise and to the benefit of the preponderance of political, popular, even populist objectives, it is not surprising that the vocation has given way to more individualistic aims. . Many want to have their value recognized, expressed in an hourly rate, in a salary. And in the context of a shortage of personnel, there is clearly the feeling that everyone considers themselves a “tradable commodity”, a negotiable value that can be converted into cash.
Difficult then to think that the vocation still has its place, and those who still practice with a spirit of public service are abused in their role. Those who say NO, who express their exasperation in connection with their conditions, benefit for a time from privileges at the expense of others. Often by reducing their level of responsibility, excluding themselves from solutions aimed at offering more and better.
The election campaign begins, and with it the demonstration at the end of each mandate of the pitfalls of the health system. I would not be surprised to hear once again elected officials hold health professionals accountable for these pitfalls. Lack of doctors, nurses, unions. The catchphrase is known, expected, constantly relayed by journalists in search of sensation and primary reactions.
When, moreover, a minister or a prime minister provokes the denigration of professionals, it is not surprising to hear doctors, nurses and other health professionals grumble, express their exasperation in the face of botched decisions, seek their happiness elsewhere only in their vocation, which has become a profession, has become a trade and has become a marketable value.
But my purpose is precisely to pay attention to public comments or comments made on social networks. The spirit of vocation vanishes, dwindles to a trickle. At least in the health system.
The atmosphere is cut with a knife, everyone’s exasperation visible as a red aura. It’s probably true that politicians have a calling for public service, and you often hear them congratulating themselves for it. But the vocation of politician cannot be exercised by denying the vocation of health professionals. There is reason to wonder if the vocation changes from desire to a state imposed by arbitrary rules.
Be careful, we absolutely need, politically and socially, to protect strong vocations in the health network to ensure quantity and quality of care.