Do ambulance companies have night shifts?

[JPINFV]

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).

 

[mikeb890]

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

 

[JPINFV]

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.

 

[mikeb890]

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?

 

[JPINFV]

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.

 

[mikeb890]

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.

 

[Handsome Robb]

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.

 

[DrParasite]

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

[mikeb890]

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.

 

[DrParasite]

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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

your welcome

 

[mikeb890]

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

[Angel]

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: