Shift types - 24s or not? and why?

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EMSBoss

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Hi gang! I could use some advice please. Its been a while since I worked the streets and wanted to get some fresh opinion on what currently active medics prefer for a shift. Are 24/48s still ok or are we getting too busy these days to maintain that shift? What alternatives would you suggest, 12s? (by the way, this is for 911 units).
 
I work 1 36 hour shift a week and love my schedule. Most of the time I get at least 4-6 hours of sleep on the night portions of my shift, and run about 14 calls in that 36 (keep in mind, my minimum time it takes to run a call is 2 hours due to transport times)
 
24/48's without Kellys every third cycle suck, unless you sleep through most nights. Our schedule is a restructured 24/48. It's 24W, 24O, 24W, 24O, 24W, 96O. You get four day breaks three times a month. If you have to work a 56 hour week, I'd want my schedule. Some places will hold you over past your shift. With the 24/48, you can be held over for 12 or even 24 hours. Working a de facto 36/36 or 48/24 against your will will burn you out real quick. With the other schedule, you can't be held past 12 hours, for 36 total no matter what. Some CA FD's are doing a 48/96. I'd go for that, but not for an EMS only dept, since most are busy. You'd be traveling five times a month rather than ten, and you could even live 2-3 hours from work and be okay with that schedule.

If you're doing 12's for a 48 hour week, there's a three on, two off, two on, three off.

For a 42 hour week, there's 24's again, but in a much more desireable fashion: There's a 24/72, or 24W, 48O, 24W, 96O.

For a 40 hour week, there can be any combination of 8's, 12's, and doubles (16's). For example, you can do two 12's and two 8's, a 16 and two 12's, or five eights. North Shore LIJ Hospital in NYC has these combinations.

Some places also make three 12's a FT schedule, even though it's only 36 hours. That way, the company can give out up to four hours of late jobs a week on straight time.
 
It really depends. 24s are great, but some services are too busy for them to make sense. That's going to depend entirely on the service and system design in your area. I work for a service that probably should not still be doing 24s-- there are days when we do 16 or 18 calls (many very short transports/transfers), but it still means that much paperwork. Several services I know have moved to 24s and 16s.
 
Also, stay away from anything over a 56 hour week at the most, unless they're paying you a six figure base. With a 56 hour week, they're already making out by paying benefits on five employees rather than seven if it were a 40 hour week. With a 48/72, 72/96 etc, they're really making out by not having to hire near the amount of employees they would have to with a 40 or 48 hour week, and also not paying benefits, sick days, vacation, equipment, training, you name it. You shouldn't have to work 70-80 hour weeks to bring home $500 post tax. That's no way to live. I'd only do that short term if the department was really slow, and I was able to bang out a degree or two, and then leave for a real job.
 
emt.dan said:
It really depends. 24s are great, but some services are too busy for them to make sense. That's going to depend entirely on the service and system design in your area. I work for a service that probably should not still be doing 24s-- there are days when we do 16 or 18 calls (many very short transports/transfers), but it still means that much paperwork. Several services I know have moved to 24s and 16s.
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That's how my old service was. You run all day and night, losing the one or two hours of sleep you could get to catch up on uncompleted ePCR's, and then get held for 12-24 hours afterward. I feel that EMS and fire need to get away from the 56 hour weeks. The problem is, to go from a 56 to a 42 hour week, for example, you would need to hire a whole platoon, or 33% more employees. That's not going to happen, at least not with major employee concessions.
 
We run both 24 and 12 hour shifts. For the 12 hour shifts you will work 3 12 hour days one week and then 4 12 hour days the next week. So you get 36 hours one week and then 48 hours the next. Our 24 hour shifts you will work 2 days out of the week with a third day thrown in every other week.
 
I worked 48s at my 911 job and it sucked. We were so busy that we seldom slept and I know my performance suffered because of it.

We work a 49/96 at my current IFT job and it's okay, as the medics aren't super busy. We'll usually sleep most nights and the minimal call volume makes the 48 hour shift doable.

I prefer 12s, simply because it lets you stay fresh.
 
I like 24/48 with the day off every third week, resulting in a 5 day mini vacation.

Of course, I only run about 4-6 calls per 24. The most I've done is 8, and our 12 hour units will do 8 in their shift. The way it's set up, is that the 24 hour trucks are the last resort. All other units in the area are supposed to be on calls, before the 24 hour car can be sent on a run (unless we're the closest unit for a 911 call/emergent transfer).


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46Young said:
That's how my old service was. You run all day and night, losing the one or two hours of sleep you could get to catch up on uncompleted ePCR's, and then get held for 12-24 hours afterward. I feel that EMS and fire need to get away from the 56 hour weeks. The problem is, to go from a 56 to a 42 hour week, for example, you would need to hire a whole platoon, or 33% more employees. That's not going to happen, at least not with major employee concessions.
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They did that in my county, and went to 24/72s. It's a rocking good schedule, but now they're so understaffed it's not even funny.
 
We do mostly 12's and some 10 hour shifts. We are simply too busy to do any longer shifts. We rarely finish 12's on time and work without a break.
 
We have 11 and 13 hour shifts, some people pull them back to back. I dislike working a reverse 24; it's rough on me.
 
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