Austin Travis County EMS hiring Paramedics and paying them as Basics

46Young said:
You're probably right. I could do over 100 or more hours of OT, and they'll still hold me if I have no relief. What I do is take the forced OT at 1.5x comp time, and just take another Sat or Sun off. I used to not do that, but I work so much OT that I have no problem playing hooky to take a day back. The truth is, I'd rather be able to work OT whenever I want to, instead of having the OT strictly controlled, which would lead me to work at some IFT company making less than half of my OT rate doing the dialysis derby, MRI round trips, and IV/monitor/O2 txp's ad nauseum.

I assume that your department doesn't do one for one relief? Meaning that if your relief calls in sick, and they don't have the spot filled, you can leave the unit out of service and go home? Or is it that the vacancy will never occur because there are enough OT tramps looking to pad their income?

Edit: The forced OT was way worse when I worked for Charleston County EMS back in 2007. I basically had no life. From reading articles on A/TCEMS, they make it seem like evryone is forced to work a bazillion hours of forced OT every month. I can take a beating on a busy 24 if I don't have to stay for an additional 12-24 against my will.
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If someone calls in sick before their shift you cannot leave the truck unmanned. You simply wait until someone comes in. Either someone on the OCP list will be called in or someone will pick it up on their on will. OCP people have 2 hours to be at the station from the time they are called in. You start receiving your OT pay from the moment you get the call. Think it's like 3 bucks an hour when just on call. No one here likes the OCP list. But to say we work a ton of forced overtime is untrue (maybe that's just my exp. but I've only been here a little over a year so I figure id be the one forced to work that mysterious forced OT, but I don't). From what you have said and what other departments do. It seems like we have it quite easy. Now IF we were made to stay an extra 12-24 hours after a shift. I would not be working here.

Since being here the longest I've been held over was about two hours, due to a last minute cardiac arrest.
 
46Young said:
Once in a while we get holdovers during the week, but for the medics in busy stations, they're regularly in jeopardy of getting held on Sat. and Sun. Our relief is one for one, then it goes to others in the station, then it goes to the battalion holdover/recall list, then it goes department-wide. We try to avoid holdover by working the evening half preceding our shift, which puts us at 36 hrs when the holdover would occur. We have a 36 hour forced OT cap. Some people do work exchanges to create a 36 hour situation, and others try to get the OT.

The ambulances in busy stations get screwed. The OT spots typically get covered with the slower stations, and the truck/engine spots are typically covered as well. Since it's in-station then in-battalion, people that work there get the shaft, while people in slower stations rarely, if ever, get held over.
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Damn...you definitely have it far worse than I do. While OT is certainly abundant here, mandatory OT, though it does happen, isn't. If I'm understanding how you guys fill vacancies, ie the guys in the station first followed by ones in the battalion...double damn. Honestly, THAT sounds completely unworkable and a breeding ground for creating rivalries/dislike for slower stations.
 
So, did ATCEMS go to 12-hour shifts yet?
 
You're either on straight 12s (42 hour work week) or 24/48 (48 hour week) with a payback week once a month.

Will all be going to a 42 work week in August. Same 12s. Then 24/72. There will always be 24s here.
 
People from ft.worth medstar and Arlington EMS used to say that too, and neither of them do 24's now. I worked for Arlington when they did their switch and I do have to say things got alot better when they switched to all 12's
 
TXmed said:
People from ft.worth medstar and Arlington EMS used to say that too, and neither of them do 24's now. I worked for Arlington when they did their switch and I do have to say things got alot better when they switched to all 12's
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We have county trucks that average 2-3 calls in 24 hours and some that have like 10 calls a month lol. Some of the city 24s are the same way but have about 5-8 calls daily. They won't be going anywhere.

But unless you have about 1-2 years tenure as a medic 1 or about 8-10 years as a medic 2, you will be on 12s
 
haha doesnt sound like yall are understaffed at all then
 
TXmed said:
haha doesnt sound like yall are understaffed at all then
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Need more medic 2s but I don't believe there is a big shortage. Another medic 2 academy is starting in the next couple months.
 
Medic 2 academy? I thought y'all didn't hire people in for medic 2? Or is that how y'all do upgrades ?
 
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