Nurses will soon be allowed to sign death certificates if a doctor is unavailable. This wishful thinking of “skills sharing” is certainly dragging on a little, since it was included in the Social Security financing law for 2023, in the form of an experiment.
Completing a death certificate is necessary to then allow the intervention of the funeral directors and the lifting of the body, except in the case of suspicious death. In this case, the nurse will not be able to intervene, and will have to call the police.
A measure that drags
Six regions volunteered: Ile-de-France, Centre-Val-de-Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France, Réunion and Occitanie, reports The world in a long report on the subject. Before a generalization promised to the entire territory, without the procedure being subject to the “unavailability” of a doctor, according to Frédéric Valletoux, the Minister of Health.
The publication of the decree should take place in April, the ministry is promised. “In a healthcare system under pressure, the objective is to place much more trust in a larger number of healthcare professionals,” defends the minister in The world.
Around 10% of nurses in home hospitalization and as many in nursing homes are expected to take part in the experiment, estimates ARS Ile-de-France. Same rate on the liberal side. In this branch, the act of certification of a death by a nurse is set at 42 euros during the day, and at 54 euros at night, weekends and public holidays. It is done free of charge during the day by doctors, but “earns” them 100 euros at night, on weekends, on public holidays and in medical deserts.