Do ambulance companies have night shifts?

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mikeb890

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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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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.
 
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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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Since no one has asked yet...

What are your long term plans?
 
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.
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Giving up on a college degree to work as a basic equals a poor decision.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Tigger said:
Giving up on a college degree to work as a basic equals a poor decision.
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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
 
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.
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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?
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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.
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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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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
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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.
 
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.
 
DrParasite said:
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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This is a legitimate question for the vast majority of ambulance services out there in the IFT world, DrP.
 
Rocketmedic40 said:
This is a legitimate question for the vast majority of ambulance services out there in the IFT world, DrP.
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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
 
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.
 
DrParasite said:
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.
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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.
 
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
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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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