# Do ambulance companies have night shifts?



## mikeb890 (Nov 17, 2012)

I'm from SoCal. Does anyone know this? I had a job offer from an ambulance company but I had to reject/put it on hold because they only had shifts that would've conflicted with my would-be class schedule.

What I need would be shifts that start around 4-7pm. Do ambulance companies here not have that?

Delaying class is not out of the question(but I have personal concerns to not do this). I've only done 2 interviews so far, and both of them only had shifts that start in the morning to  shifts that start at 3pm. So if it's close to impossible to obtain night shifts(or SoCal simply doesn't have them) , then I will seriously consider pushing back my classes. 

Thank you for your input!


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## Anjel (Nov 17, 2012)

Wow. Um. You got a job offer. In SoCal. One of the hardest places to get a job in EMS.... And you turned it down. 

Wow... Just wow.


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## mikeb890 (Nov 17, 2012)

Eh, it was a part-time position(with the chance of becoming full-time) if that makes a difference... anddd I do have my personal reasons, like I said. I don't want to sound ungrateful... but actually, when I asked around (my EMT instructor, EMTs  I did ride-alongs with), they all said it was easy to find a job as an EMT, unless you have a particular company that you absolutely want to get into.

Maybe, it was beginner's luck, but what matters is I'm asking here right now, so I can make a decision between work and school.


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## Tigger (Nov 17, 2012)

Most places with night and evening shifts, but there are far fewer of them than day shifts so getting hired on to one may be difficult. It's been my experience that those that work these shifts are "night" people and rarely give that shift up.


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## mikeb890 (Nov 17, 2012)

Eurgh! Yeah! That's what I was worried about. I wouldn't want to do night shifts either if I could do other shifts. But I'll pray that they're just people who're assigned to do night shifts because they couldn't get better ones.(yeah right, lol)

But thank you for the information. I'll keep that in mind before going for more interviews.


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## sneauxpod (Nov 17, 2012)

dude honestly, if I were you i would go back right now, accept the offer, put classes on hold or change your class schedule. because when shift changes come, youll probably be able to get a schedule where you can work and go to school mostly without conflict. plus, school will always be there, the job might not. so run and accept, fast lol. but yes every company i know of offers night shifts, its a sob flip flopping though.


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## JPINFV (Nov 17, 2012)

Since no one has asked yet...

What are your long term plans?


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## Tigger (Nov 17, 2012)

sneauxpod said:


> dude honestly, if I were you i would go back right now, accept the offer, put classes on hold or change your class schedule. because when shift changes come, youll probably be able to get a schedule where you can work and go to school mostly without conflict. plus, school will always be there, the job might not. so run and accept, fast lol. but yes every company i know of offers night shifts, its a sob flip flopping though.



Giving up on a college degree to work as a basic equals a poor decision.


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## DesertMedic66 (Nov 17, 2012)

Yes Cali has those shifts. At my company we have 3 shifts that start between that time frame (and I'm at a small company/division). 

You may not be getting another job offer for a while. Cali has a ton of EMTs and Medics looking for jobs who will accept any shift and any pay.


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## CentralCalEMT (Nov 17, 2012)

I don't know where you live but Hall in Kern County starts everyone on night shifts after field training and Gerber in Torrance consists entirely of 12 hour shifts so they have a lot of night shifts.


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## sneauxpod (Nov 17, 2012)

Tigger said:


> Giving up on a college degree to work as a basic equals a poor decision.



im not saying give up. what im saying is that instead of not having a job, he can have a relatively easy one and go to school at the same time. like he could go part time until shift bids, get his class schedule and work schedule to be compatible and then life is in harmony. then he doesnt have to take out as big of loans etc etc. if i can do it with 16 cr hrs and being a full time medic, so can he! lol


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## mikeb890 (Nov 17, 2012)

Whoah. Thanks for the helpful replies thus far. 


> dude honestly, if I were you i would go back right now, accept the offer, put classes on hold or change your class schedule. because when shift changes come, youll probably be able to get a schedule where you can work and go to school mostly without conflict. plus, school will always be there, the job might not. so run and accept, fast lol. but yes every company i know of offers night shifts, its a sob flip flopping though.


Wellllll. They said I could call them back to tell them what my plan would be, like if I decide to drop the class I'm expecting to take. But they were very understanding and nice, saying stuff that's kinda similar to Tigger's POV, and that they understood.



> Since no one has asked yet...
> 
> What are your long term plans?



Long term plan is to be a PA 

firefite: Thank you for telling me this. If you don't mind me asking(from your profile comments), are you working in Shoreline? If you need me to private message you I'll gladly do so to.



> I don't know where you live but Hall in Kern County starts everyone on night shifts after field training and Gerber in Torrance consists entirely of 12 hour shifts so they have a lot of night shifts.


I wasn't planning to apply to Gerber because it was kinda far. But I'm definitely applying there now. Thank you so much!


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## mikeb890 (Nov 17, 2012)

sneauxpod said:


> im not saying give up. what im saying is that instead of not having a job, he can have a relatively easy one and go to school at the same time. like he could go part time until shift bids, get his class schedule and work schedule to be compatible and then life is in harmony. then he doesnt have to take out as big of loans etc etc. if i can do it with 16 cr hrs and being a full time medic, so can he! lol



Good job balancing those  With the budget cuts, they only have one class at a certain time that I need. My problem is really just that their timing clashes. I do have the option of taking classes that I need for Spring 2013(I'm registered for the winter intersession right now), but let's just say that it comes with terrible repercussions if I do not get the classes that I still need then.


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## DrParasite (Nov 17, 2012)

No, ambulance companies don't have night shifts.

people never get sick and night and need to call 911.

nursing homes never have people who need to be sent to the hospital at 3am.

hospitals never have ER patients that need to be transported back to the nursing home via ambulance stretcher.

Crazy people just wait until the sun rises before they can be transported to the psych facilities.

in conclusion, no ambulance companies have night shifts.

btw, as someone who worked and went to school, it takes some good scheduling, and some switches at work, but you can take classes and work.  maybe working half a shift, or having a coworker work part of the shift.  or taking classes 2 or 3 days a week, and working the other time.

Actually 3 years ago, I was working 60 hours a week (on day shift), and in classes for 12 hours a day every tuesday and thursday.  it was a really long summer, but it is possible.  hard to maintain a relationship, or even go out, but it can be done.  you just got to be able to schedule yourself well.


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## RocketMedic (Nov 17, 2012)

DrParasite said:


> No, ambulance companies don't have night shifts.
> 
> people never get sick and night and need to call 911.
> 
> ...



This is a legitimate question for the vast majority of ambulance services out there in the IFT world, DrP.


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## TransportJockey (Nov 17, 2012)

Rocketmedic40 said:


> This is a legitimate question for the vast majority of ambulance services out there in the IFT world, DrP.



 It is ?  I've worked multiple services in multiple states and have always seen trucks on duty at night, even for ift services. Granted, there's less trucks, but there still are crews on duty


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## JPINFV (Nov 17, 2012)

I know in Southern California most counties require ambulance companies to be on duty 24 hours a day unless there's a legitimate reason for the company to be exempt (i.e. industrial sites who have their own ambulances or special event companies). As such, IFT companies have to have at least 1 ambulance on duty overnight. Granted, if they have any sort of contracts (SNF, hospital, 911, etc), then there would also be significant demand to justify multiple overnight ambulances.


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## mikeb890 (Nov 18, 2012)

DrParasite said:


> No, ambulance companies don't have night shifts.
> 
> people never get sick and night and need to call 911.
> 
> ...



Yeah, I should totally interrogate companies that don't offer shifts that start at night with these questions(which is 2 out of 2 companies that I did my interviews with)...

Oh wait, they have it covered with 24-hour shifts. 

Granted that I could've phrased my question better, when you ask a passerby "Excuse me, do you know what time it is?", people are usually able to infer that you actually want to know the time, and not just yes or no, no? 

Rocketmedic: Hmm, yeah. The strictly IFT one only had shifts starting from 7am -11am, but the other one also did emergency calls. Their latest shift starts at 3pm.


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## Tigger (Nov 18, 2012)

TransportJockey said:


> It is ?  I've worked multiple services in multiple states and have always seen trucks on duty at night, even for ift services. Granted, there's less trucks, but there still are crews on duty



At one point my company got rid of BLS trucks on the overnight and made the medics do discharges and late hour psych transfers. A week later the overnights were back.


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## Anonymous (Nov 18, 2012)

JPINFV said:


> Since no one has asked yet...
> 
> What are your long term plans?





Tigger said:


> Giving up on a college degree to work as a basic equals a poor decision.



Thank you


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## JPINFV (Nov 18, 2012)

beancurd said:


> Long term plan is to be a PA



Only worry about EMS if you are looking at programs that require health care experience. Even still, grades and what ever pre-professional exam you have to take. Those are going to be the most important in determining if you get in, not whether you worked part time during undergrad (outside any hour requirements).


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## mikeb890 (Nov 18, 2012)

Most PA schools value HCE... alot. It's a requirement for about 80% of the schools I looked at.


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## JPINFV (Nov 18, 2012)

Just because it's a requirement doesn't mean that it's equal to the rest of the numbers. It doesn't matter how cool beans your HCE was if you never get past the initial GPA/exam score screening.


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## mikeb890 (Nov 18, 2012)

Eh, getting a little off topic here, haha. But I would say that from my research, after the initial selection, what sets you apart from the others during interviews will be the type of HCE you have. Heck, I think even for the initial selection, the type of HCE probably play a pretty significant part too. Most applicants, including myself, meet the GPA requirement. So realistically speaking, I do think that HCE is just as important as GPA. The only school I can remember that requires GRE in CA is USC. So really, the two most important things are GPA and HCE.

I've also heard of stories in which people offset borderline GPAs with yearssss of HCE. I don't see myself doing that, but I think they show that PA schools definitely see immense value in having a good HCE record.

Out of curiosity, are you a pre-PA emt too?


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## JPINFV (Nov 18, 2012)

beancurd said:


> Out of curiosity, are you a pre-PA emt too?




Nope... third year osteopathic medical student, and to be honest, I'm working under the assumption that the PA application game is similar to the medical school application game. For example, most medical schools only require 90 semester units of undergrad, not an undergrad degree and very few have a hard GPA limit. However I wouldn't advise people think that they can be a successful applicant to just about any US school with 90 units and no degree (at time of matriculation) and a 3.0 GPA.


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## mikeb890 (Nov 18, 2012)

Very nice. While I don't know what a medical student has to go through, one major difference is, as I mentioned, no other examinations are required for most PA schools in CA.

And don't worry about the units part, I have a bazillion units and still need a few more lol. Which is why the problem of having to find suitable shifts came up in the first place.


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## Handsome Robb (Nov 18, 2012)

We have shifts starting from 0400 all the way up to 1830. 

Like DrParasite said...people still get sick at night. 

FWIW new guys are generally stuck on nights here unless you get real lucky. I love nights...love the calls, the coworkers, ER staff, and atmosphere but absolutely loathe the hours.


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## DrParasite (Nov 18, 2012)

Rocketmedic40 said:


> This is a legitimate question for the vast majority of ambulance services out there in the IFT world, DrP.


the question that was asked is "do ambulance companies have night shifts?"  I would wager my paycheck and your paycheck that the answer to that question is yes.  the companies he has applied to might not offer night shifts, as I do know quite a few that only have day shifts.  but somewhere, there is a company that has an IFT truck that is doing transports at 3am, or is available to do a transport when called at 3am.





beancurd said:


> Yeah, I should totally interrogate companies that don't offer shifts that start at night with these questions(which is 2 out of 2 companies that I did my interviews with)...


sounds like a great question to ask in an interview, or even better, ask when you drop off the application so you don't waste your time if they don't have shifts that will fit your schedule.


beancurd said:


> Oh wait, they have it covered with 24-hour shifts.


so they have 24 hour shifts, instead of dedicated night shifts.  most busy places don't do 24s.  too much of a risk of crashing after the crew has been driving for 20 hours.  If they do a 24 hour shift, then do a 24 on the day that you aren't in class. 





beancurd said:


> Granted that I could've phrased my question better, when you ask a passerby "Excuse me, do you know what time it is?", people are usually able to infer that you actually want to know the time, and not just yes or no, no?


[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M5eG-aywZQ[/YOUTUBE]
your right, you should have phrased your question better.  my crystal ball is broken, and my ability to read minds hasn't worked right since I got married, so I can only answer the question you asked, not the question you wanted the answer to.

I know close to 2 dozen IFT companies that only operate between 5am and 11pm.  I also know that if I wanted to find a company that did nights, I would call those types of facilities that might need their services (hospitals, nursing homes, psych facilities, etc) and ask them who their contracted provider is for night time transports.  worst case scenario they refuse to tell you.  best case you have a lead on a service that operates at night.


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## mikeb890 (Nov 18, 2012)

It was a title. Do you really expect my thread TITLE to be "Do ambulance companies have night shifts? Because I applied for 2 and both didn't have them. I need shifts that go from 5pm to 7pm. So what ambulance companies do you work for if you are working a night shift? Thanks!" 

Almost everything that I wanted to know was available in the body of the thread, if you bothered to read it at all. It's a bonus when really helpful people told me which companies had them.



> sounds like a great question to ask in an interview, or even better, ask when you drop off the application so you don't waste your time if they don't have shifts that will fit your schedule.


Lol. Why would I totally rule out ambulance companies that don't offer night shifts when I mentioned that I may choose to drop the classes, albeit with the possibility of having undesirable consequences(again, in the body of the thread). In fact, I'm asking this so that if I found out that most ambulance companies didn't have night shifts, I would avoid mentioning my class schedule just so they won't throw my application in the "No time available, auto-reject" pile.

I have classes almost everyday, so 24 hr-shifts on days that I'm not in class is not possible. I appreciate advice about time management, but I don't really need them, I've done this full-time student/full-time job thing before, just that they were those typical 9am-6pm jobs.

Anyways, I think I've gathered enough information from this thread. Thank you to everyone who helped.


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## DrParasite (Nov 18, 2012)

beancurd said:


> It was a title. Do you really expect my thread TITLE to be "Do ambulance companies have night shifts? Because I applied for 2 and both didn't have them. I need shifts that go from 5pm to 7pm. So what ambulance companies do you work for if you are working a night shift? Thanks!"


or maybe just put that in the body, instead of 


beancurd said:


> What I need would be shifts that start around 4-7pm. Do ambulance companies here not have that?





beancurd said:


> Lol. Why would I totally rule out ambulance companies that don't offer night shifts when I mentioned that I may choose to drop the classes, albeit with the possibility of having undesirable consequences(again, in the body of the thread).


 you were the one who wanted the night shifts, and asked if companies had night shifts.  if you wold take the day shifts, than you are an idiot to turn down a job offer in SoCal when many PARAMEDICS are still looking for jobs.  


beancurd said:


> In fact, I'm asking this so that if I found out that most ambulance companies didn't have night shifts, I would avoid mentioning my class schedule just so they won't throw my application in the "No time available, auto-reject" pile.


and as I implied, of course there are night shifts.  but if you want to waste your time going to every company hoping to nights and after being offered the job saying you can't, well, that's your time to waste.  If you only apply to those that have night shifts (because many companies just work days), your odds of getting a job you can work will go over better.





beancurd said:


> I have classes almost everyday, so 24 hr-shifts on days that I'm not in class is not possible. I appreciate advice about time management, but I don't really need them, I've done this full-time student/full-time job thing before, just that they were those typical 9am-6pm jobs.


maybe you should try to get a schedule (next semester) that allows you to work a few days a week and go to school for 6 hours a day, so you aren't working every day?





beancurd said:


> Anyways, I think I've gathered enough information from this thread. Thank you to everyone who helped.


your welcome


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## mikeb890 (Nov 19, 2012)

DrParasite said:


> or maybe just put that in the body, instead of



Do I REALLY need to demonstrate how my original body already stated everything I need to know? Okay then, here goes. 



			
				beancurd said:
			
		

> I'm from SoCal. Does anyone know this? I had a job offer from an ambulance company but I had to* reject/put it on hold *because they only had shifts that would've conflicted with my would-be class schedule.



This should tell you that I haven't outright rejected them.



			
				beancurd said:
			
		

> What I need would be shifts that start around 4-7pm. Do ambulance companies here not have that?
> 
> *Delaying class is not out of the question(but I have personal concerns to not do this).*


Here, I mention that nothing is definite yet.



			
				beancurd said:
			
		

> I've only done 2 interviews so far, and both of them only had shifts that start in the morning to shifts that start at 3pm. *So if it's close to impossible to obtain night shifts(or SoCal simply doesn't have them) , then I will seriously consider pushing back my classes.
> 
> Thank you for your input!*



Here's where I show that obviously I kind of knew that it was impossible for all ambulance companies to only have early shifts. But more importantly, the information that I needed the most is here: Is it easy to get them, and what do people think MY chances of getting them are. Tigger covered all I needed to know in about 3 sentences clearly(and without sarcasm too, wow!), so what exactly is so difficult about my post? 

And seriously, enough with these "So many people don't have jobs and you have the audacity to reject a job??!?!" thing. I absolutely appreciate someone bringing up this fact if their intention is for me to carefully weigh my pros and cons when I make the final decision to drop my classes or not. BUT, if you're using this to somehow imply to or tell me that I don't deserve to get employed(or that I'm stupid) simply because there are many other people who are unemployed and willing to jump at any chances they get, then thanks but no thanks.


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## Angel (Dec 4, 2012)

i didnt read this entire thread BUT most PA schools that require HCE have a number attached (1000/2000 hours) and with your limited availability + school it's going to take a long time regardless to reach those 1000 hours (especially since you seem as if you are so close to applying you cant put off 1 class) so you kind of have to determine which is more important right now. It seems impossible to get the HCE hours and your class done the way you'd like so you might have to pick and chose. 
I too am considering PA and while a lot of schools require HCE, a lot of them don't. Do some more research, beggars can't be choosers IMO.

ETA: Sry, didnt realize how old the thread was :blush:


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