a return to the sources of the 15
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Companies. During the summer, several French departments introduced the rule of a compulsory call to number 15 in order to be able, with its approval, to go to the emergency room. This measure responded to the saturation of these services, suddenly aggravated by the shortage of nursing staff.
But is it only a matter of asking the centers of the Emergency Medical Aid Service (SAMU) – and temporarily – for a regulatory task that is not part of their mission? In the light of hospital history, another perspective is essential: we should, on the contrary, see in it a return to the sources of number 15, and to the coordination of the actors of the medical emergency of which it was to be the instrument. .
Dating back to the 1980s, the creation of number 15 already responded to a worrying situation, as the coming crises of medical emergencies were clearly announced. Hospitals saw a steadily increasing influx of patients, only a minority of whom (5% to 6%, at the time) required immediate medical attention. City medicine withdrew from duty, while associations of practitioners specialized in home visits.
Hospitals reserved for acute pathologies
Social distress complicated and increased the flow of requests: the elderly, requiring long-stay placement or chronic care, crowded emergency rooms because hospitals were increasingly reserved for acute pathologies.
At the same time, medicine for the most serious emergencies was making great progress: SAMUs were multiplying and equipped with ambulances adapted to the on-site treatment of the heaviest cases. As for the firefighters (who may have their own medical teams) and the police, their intervention was sometimes essential at home or on the public highway.
Multiple studies warned of these upheavals and advocated regulation involving all private and public stakeholders. Regulation without which hospital emergencies – the only easy recourse available at all times – would inevitably be overwhelmed. The 15 was born from this need and its task was to identify the nature of the emergency, to direct the patient and to expedite, if necessary, the most appropriate intervention. [cf. « Le 15 à Paris, un numéro unique pour les urgences médicales », collectif de chercheurs, publication de l’Ecole des mines, 1980].
In less than two or three minutes
However, for decades, health authorities have not promoted this use of 15 while the rapid growth of emergency flows and the difficulties of these services (expectations, incivility, congestion, etc.) have never ceased. It took an unprecedented crisis, that of Covid-19, for the 15 to regain its function.
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