Downtime Duties

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Anyone care to share a list of Job Duties ( for down time at the station)? Also, can you state whether your are an URBAN or RURAL squad??
We are a (newly) combination-Paid/Volunteer Rural EMS department. We only has two Full Timers and a hand full of volunteers in a very small town (population 839)
As you can guess there is a lot of down time at our station, and we desperately NEED more duties on 90% of the days.
Please share your duties for downtime .. be as detailed as you can please !!

Thank you
 
Some chores should be daily, some should be set days, some should be once a week, and some should be once a month.

Daily is wiping down all touch points. Keyboards, mouse, door handles, all through the station and even the trucks. It is just a good practice to instill and maintain (even pre-COVID).

Daily...sweeping and spot mopping. Stay ahead of the dirt and grime. Yep, staff will half *** it some days, but if its a daily chore, eventually the dirt gets collected. Weekly do a deep mop.

Daily, wipe stove, counters, microwave, fridge. Weekly clean out fridge...gets purged and wiped.

Weekly, sweep bay floors.

Just try to not go overboard...you are a very small, rural department. Yes, take pride and stay clean. However the volunteers you need on hand, try not to chore them out of their minds.

I would incorporate daily power train sessions (brief 10-15 minutes on a topic or skill). Weekly or every other week or monthly do a deeper training, however those tend to get missed often and become more mundane.

Do you have workout equipment? Daily encourage staff to use it!! :) And wipe it down.

Weekly or monthly, pull out that equipment on the truck that is never used. Unpack it, unroll it, clean it, refresh on it, stow it.

Every other week, or monthly, deep clean the trucks (especially the cabs), wipe down everything, sweep it, mop it, armor all it.
 
With that small of staff and that much downtime, I would try and develop/encourage more training/education and fitness than obsessing on chores.
 
akflightmedic said:
With that small of staff and that much downtime, I would try and develop/encourage more training/education and fitness than obsessing on chores.
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^^^^ This ^^^^
 
Being one of the two full timers I can tell you its a long long shift if there is nothing to do. Our current duty list is very minimal . I appreciate your input !! I agree on the training and the fitness. Training we can do... the fitness...?? The powers that be DID get us a fancy exercise bike but its in front of the camera system so niether of us full time girls want anything to do with THAT.. Now if it were in a private area, yes.
 
You have a camera system in that small of a department???

Ummm, very weird priorities.

Is there that much crime in a town of 800? Or is someone being overly creepy and hiding it behind other invalid reasons.

As for the duty list being minimal....do you really need a list to tell you chores? There are only two of you, and only a handful of vollies. Is this list more about having them share in the duties you and the other FT do more often than them? Unsure an expanded list is what is needed, but thats me not knowing any of the other dynamics at play.
 
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LOL you are very *perceptive*....;) about the camera system and priorities. Only two cameras in the station are on the area containing the bike ( and supplies) and in the kitchen facing the eating area??? :rolleyes: so... weird...?? indeed.
Yes on the list of duties.. apparently the DO need to be spelled out as the powers that over see the powers that be want to see them and know that they are keeping us plenty busy, and the work is EVENLY distributed (yes.. that seems to be neccessary) Besides... I appreciate not sitting and twiddling my thumbs all shift long.
 
ibemtb said:
We are a (newly) combination-Paid/Volunteer Rural EMS department. We only has two Full Timers and a hand full of volunteers in a very small town (population 839)
Click to expand...
damn.... 839 people, how many calls do you have a year? how big is your station? I'd go nuts from boredom

Disclaimer: I have only worked in urban and suburban EMS systems, so rural isn't something I'm familiar with. And most of my shifts we didn't have defined station chores, other than morning truck checks; we also didn't always have a physical station.

daily chores: equipment check of everything in your ambulance. mechanical check. wash truck if it's dirty.
clean bathrooms, kitchen, vacuum all carpeted areas, and heavily traffic rooms.
fitness - 1 hr fitness during downtime. The camera is kinda creepy (although I understand why they would want a camera, for liability reasons), but if someone wants to stare at you while you are on an exercise bike... i mean, it's not like it doesn't happen at the gym. and you can do a lot of stuff with a TV, a yoga matt, and some free weights.
EMS training - review something. could be an EMS article
Area familiarization / PR: go somewhere public, show the public that you are there, staffed, and ready to go.
Preplan complicated areas with access issues or people with known medical conditions, so it's documented and can be added as a CAD alert.

weekly: check the supply closet to make sure you don't need to order stuff.
deep clean ambulance (empty every compartment, wipe down the insides, clean any mess)
clean out refridgerator
wax ambulance every 3 to 6 months

I'm a fan of giving full time staff more duties than just being on the ambulance, but that also means you can't just hire entry level people with 0 experience right out of school. this can include:
chart review for all charts from the previous week
project review (new equipment)
website/social media/PR campaign
grant research and submission
EMS certification review (make sure no one has expired, or is coming up for renewal)
capital equipment purchases
training developement
inter agency training and coordination

As a general rule, I hate busy work. Giving you work just for the sake of looking busy wastes everyone's time. I don't care if you sleep, provide you have nothing else to do. watch TV. surf the web. spend time on the dumpster fire that is social media. as long as if you get a call, you are out the door in 60 seconds, I really don't care. As a boss. If there is work stuff for you to do, then you are mine for 12-24 hours (depending on your shift), and I can dictate what you do, but I'm not going to waste your time just for the sake of looking busy.

If you are that bored, take a class at the local CC, start a college degree, research a new certification, a new technique/medicine, etc. Be proactive, even if it benefits you and not your agency.
 
All of the above, but the working out should be imperative.

Keep your back and your legs ready for the inevitable big lifts, and awkward situations.

I have a fair amount of downtime at my current job, and I take online classes in whatever I am interested in. Just finished a basic coding class. I have no interest in ever pursuing something in that field, but I have a better appreciation for those that do. Of course medical classes, are great too.
 
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