Salary Advice?

[MNQ1984]

First off I'd like to introduce myself and give you all a little back round information. I started my fire/ems career in the Air Force as a Air Crash Rescue Firefighter from there I moved back to the Seattle area and worked as a resident firefighter/emt. After a year of that I had the oppurnuity to moved to Phoenix and work ER/Trauma at a very large hospital in the city. I worked in the hospital for 5 years and learned a lot of new skill sets and became certified Orthopedic Tech as well. After 5 years in the hospital I got a little burnted out and decided to take a year off (packed bags moved to the beach surfed and sold cars for a year ).

Now here is my question for you guys. I was given a great job offer last week to moved to a bush camp in Utah and provide BLS services for the 80 or so personal that they have in camp. I know what my time is worth in a hospital/clinical and "Urban" ems setting but I have no clue what kind of compensation I should be receiving for this job. The company has asked me to do some research over the weekend and come up with a fair salary for my first 8 week contract. Now, they have never had ANY onsite ems support so I'll have to order all of my supply's and build a "clinic" from the ground up for them so my 8 week's will more than likely turn into 10+ weeks. Sense I'll be the sole provider in camp I will need to be on call the entire time I'm there. I was thinking that a fair salary would be in the neighborhood of $6,000-$8,000 per month. Do you all think I'm in the right ball park here or am I standing on the moon with this offer? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[akflightmedic]

Just remember, you are establishing the bar for all employees who follow long after you are gone. Do your EMS colleagues a favor and do NOT undervalue your services.

There are many more specifics which I would want to know in order to determine a fair salary, however I would not work for less than $250 a day on US soil (in a remote base camp/rural environment). This puts wages around $7500/month.

Keep in mind $250 is the low end of a daily rate for remote medic work.

Additionally, you need to carve out the other perks of being paid for travel time or being paid while off duty, etc...lot of options for you but your initial pricing is not far from where the pay should be.

 

[MNQ1984]

Additionally, you need to carve out the other perks of being paid for travel time or being paid while off duty, etc...lot of options for you but your initial pricing is not far from where the pay should be.

All travel is paid for by the company along with all cost of living expenses while I'm in camp (food, housing, ext....).

 

[firetender]

Keep in mind that you are the one setting up a template and testing it out under real-world conditions, so, on one level you are more than a grunt, you are a consultant.

AK has experience so if he says $8 K is in the ballpark, then that sounds right. What you might consider is getting in a rider that you receive a bonus at the end of your tour for "fine-tuning" the operation according to what you learned, writing up a protocol, and leave that with them as a template for the future. Put in that they don't have to make a decision to "hire" you on that phase until week Six.

Let them know that you're okay with a solid figure, but are confident that once you prove yourself some further incentive would be appropriate.

 

[bw2529]

$100k for BLS services? Are you including supplies in that? Around here EMT-Bs are paid less than half that.

 

[akflightmedic]

He should not pay a dime for any supplies, those all need to be company provided. Again he is not just providing BLS services, he is laying the foundation. His policies and procedures which are established now is what all future work will be based on.

As one who has worked many small and remote camps, you are never off duty. You will be stopped in the shower room, in the chow hall, anywhere and everywhere to discuss or look at various complaints. It becomes very difficult to ever have allocated "me" time. It is important you establish some me time right away and have people respect that.

He will also find himself quickly examining and dealing with issues which far exceed a BLS capacity. He will need to develop contingency plans for these types of cases including medevacs and mass casualty.

He will find himself training and advising on basic healthcare knowledge as well. He will also need to develop inventory lists and par amounts for those items.

He will then find himself in a preventative med mode...when illnesses break out on camp is it a result of water supply or food supply? When one person gets a URI, is it just that or is it something worse such as the flu?

It is never as easy as "Just BLS services".

Now that we have BARELY scraped the surface of everything he will soon encounter and have to address...let us practice some basic math skills.

8 weeks = 1,344 hours

I suggested $250 per day which = $10.41/hour or $1748.88 per week.
We still have NOT deducted taxes.

(He is on call and on site, therefore he is on clock every hour)

Wow...$10 bucks an hour for all that work...now is it just "BLS services"?

So yes, for everything that he will do and everything that will be expected of those who follow him especially if they are following the guidelines he establishes...absolutely the pay is more than justifiable.

As an aside, we have yet to discuss a medical director and you providing these services completely on the up and up.

 

[MNQ1984]

AK thank you so much! Everything you have said is going to help me out a lot. Are you currently working as a contractor over seas? When I got out of the Air Force a lot of my co-works went to work for wackenhut in Iraq and did very well over there.

 

[bw2529]

No need to get defensive, I'm new to all this. I was just asking the question. I appreciate the very thorough answer. I'd also be interested to hear more about who will be acting as medical director / med control and how that is going to work...

 

[mycrofft]

Sound good so far (see above).

Also: sick leave, replacement if you are hurt, dental? ("Just bill us" won't do it).

Get the medical control/protocols thing down solid.

Include some reference books (ask your medical controller for some recommendations, I would get the Merck Manual which includes the most about sports injuries and general medicine and maybe Taber's dictionary, not to tell you what to do, but when to call for help and how loud, and sometimes when not to. Might also consider a military field guide or civilian outdoors guide as well. Read them on duty between patients).

Set up sick call hours ( a couple hours each morning, noonish and evening) and consult with your medical control about criteria to post as "Don't wake me for this". Do not get into the trap of living on cat naps.

Have a records system with secure storage, and a calendar for return visits like dressing changes (which allow you to check for progress or infection) or return checks to follow say coughs and headaches. (What elevation are you working at?).

In your supplies get them to include some over the counter "Temp aDent" or similar temporary filling material, basically some eugenol cement. Not for repairs, but to keep a patient sane from pain wile getting back to a dentist. Also, Camphophenique to quell chiggers and repel ticks. (You will need to bring your own stock of OTC"s and your Rx's, and DO NOT share them).

Oh, you can leave your copy of TO-00-015E-9 behind.

PS: See if the state you are practicing in will recognize your certificate, and if they have OSHA regs about coverage. Wlderness occupations actually tend to have more regs since they are "remote".

 

[BedpanCommando]

Everything AKflightmedic said is the absolute truth. As a remote medic in Alaska I couldn’t have said it any better. One of the first things you should do upon arrival is finding out how to contact local assets. The best tool I've found to keep all that straight in an ICS form 206. (just Google it) Once filled out keep it close. The last thing you want to do in an emergency is take time to look up how to get Helo on the way. If you want I can send you a copy of the one for my current job as a reference. Also 250 a day is very reasonable if not a little on the low side. I make about twice that here. (But thats in AK and ACLS.)

 

[mycrofft]

I forgot geographic inflation

What pays well for California's San Bernardino County won't feed mice in Alaska, etc.