Down Time on the Job

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Double-E

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what do you do with yours?

what is common and what is frowned upon?

i ask because i have no experience (yet...hehe) and this seems to be a dominant aspect of the job. we spend all our time discussing calls and what happens on them yet (despite the fact that, yes, that is the whole point) that takes only a tiny fraction of the time on the job.

i had an instructor mention that a lot of EMT-Bs use the time to study for paramedic training. i always imagined it would be a great time to catch up on reading...either a book or the papers or w/e or even to make use of an iphone :P
 
Studying's a big one. But so are video games. As long as we stay near our gear and ready to go, it doesn't really matter. Of course, we aren't allowed to have alcohol or anything like that.
 
My downtime on the job is spent doing things like:
Researching conditions and such about a previous call
Visiting www.addictinggames.com
Perusing various online communities
"Meditating"
Watch movies or TV shows (thanks to Hulu)
Conducting business for my secondary job
Talking to other crews
Making chainmail (a hobby of mine)

But then again, it should be noted I work for a private company and we're often parked in a lot somewhere for the duration of any downtime. Sleeping is also frowned upon here. We also occasionally do things like make a small fire in a can and roast marshmellows (outside the truck of course).
 
Chainmail huh? how did you get into that craft? I always wanted to learn.

Me..we watch TV, computer, video games, Txt lol..or go walk the mall (if I am lucky enough to get into that station for the shift).
 
Down time? .. My crews (some of them) remember those words, but as in the past year there is no such thing. A sure way of not having any down time is to bring a project or make plans to do something. Now, if they do get it.... they sleep, they know they will need it.

R/r 911
 
I either study, play online, or sleep.
 
Where are used to work we were busy and posted on street corners. I used to read a book. Partners had laptops with wireless and would go on line. 1 partner I had, had a portable dvd player so we watched movies, and he even brought his playstation and it hooked to the portable DVD player...it was cool...Some crews threw a ball around. I knew 1 crew that brought fishing poles for when they posted near the water they fished...and slept if they got a chance.

Sleeping is usually frowned upon, but as long as you are never late to respond, you should not get crap for it. Studying is always good as well...may as well get paid for studying

where I am now, things are not as busy and we have quarters with a tv and couches and a full kitchen...and beds...I call it a country club compared to where I used to work. So we sleep on the overnights (as long as we are not late to responding). when at the base we can do most anything, with in reason...

some people exercise.

The list can go on and on...
 
Well, being a studant, I try to study, but...................
Other than that, sleep, read, talk to my partner till we can't think of anything else to say, you name it.

I don't like down time while I'm on though, a little here and there is good, but I hate getting hardly anything while I'm on.
 
Now that I'm no longer posting on street corners (thank god), my first order of business is making sure that the truck is clean inside and out, and I mean beyond a simple wipe down with saniwipes. Wash the exterior and windex the windows, sweep the inside (front and back), etc. I can think of few things more embarrassing than responding in a dirty truck. Then, yea, study, sleep, relax.
 
JPINFV said:
I can think of few things more embarrassing than responding in a dirty truck.
Click to expand...


Really? I can think of dozens off the top of my head. :P


Our company policy is "No sleep if you're not on a 24"... right. All field supervisors know A) it's not followed and B ) As long as it doesn't hinder your job, they don't care.


Eat, sleep, surf the web. As if there was anything else to do.



Few weeks ago, did a 24hr shift with a single call. Slept 18 hours that day. 5 hours watching tv. 1 hour on call. It was good. I'm jealous of Amber ^_^
 
Linuss said:
Really? I can think of dozens off the top of my head. :P
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Ok, fair enough. It's one of the few things that I can control though.
 
JPINFV said:
Now that I'm no longer posting on street corners (thank god), my first order of business is making sure that the truck is clean inside and out, and I mean beyond a simple wipe down with saniwipes. Wash the exterior and windex the windows, sweep the inside (front and back), etc. I can think of few things more embarrassing than responding in a dirty truck. Then, yea, study, sleep, relax.
Click to expand...

If I wasn't posting on the street I would definately clean. I hate having a dirty truck... but since everyone I work with does SSM, I can't.
 
Linuss said:
Our company policy is "No sleep if you're not on a 24"... right. All field supervisors know A) it's not followed and B ) As long as it doesn't hinder your job, they don't care.
Click to expand...

Our company policy is once you're done with your morning duties (rig check and station cleaning) the day is yours as long as you make our 60 second chute time they could care less if you sleep the rest of the shift.

That said I'm a big fan of sleeping early and often because then you can guarantee that you will have a slow night. If you wait to sleep at night you know you will be up and running all night.

Our medical director asks that we spend at least an hour each shift doing some sort of studying to make ourselves better providers so I'll read up on various disease processes or new treatments etc for a while each day. Other than that TV, games, internet or sleeping. If none of the above sound appealing since most of our rigs are stationed at hospitals I will go in the ER and do what I can to help or just sit around and talk to the docs or nurses if they're slow.
 
I'm doing it right now. (EMTLIFE)

I also have been trying to find ways for us to cut materiele costs, keeping the union appraised of the festivities here, and helping anyone else who needs it.
Next week I will do my remaing CEU's to relicense.
 
I study for my medic, class, read books, watch tv, sleep, computer. Depends on the time of day and our location. If its during the day, we are most likely posted in the truck. Evening, usually post at a base. Overnights, post at a base, sleep. Sleep isn't in the job description as one dispatcher put it, but that was to someone complaining about doing a call. Usually its just TV and shooting the :censored::censored::censored::censored: with coworkers.
 
Organize all of the bandaids by color and size, go through every roll of transpore and make sure all of the ends are folded over so they're easy to get to with gloves on, clean things repeatedly, wash my hands.

They say I have OCD, but I don't like that terminology. I prefer CDO.... alphabetical... like it should be.
 
I usually just bring my laptop and some DVDs and pray we're posted somewhere with free wi-fi. Oh, and study.
 
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