EMS and 12 Hour Shifts

[CALEMT]

48 hour
XX OO XX OO XX OOOOOOOO

I'm a fan of the 48/96 but this is just an amazing schedule.

 

[VentMonkey]

The airport folks used to be on the county schedule as well, but it was voted off for some reason in favor of the BFD rotating Kelly with 4's and 6's.

 

[DrParasite]

I'm a fan of the 48/96 but this is just an amazing schedule.

24/72 is even better.....

As I (and many people) mentioned earlier, there is nothing inherently wrong with 24 hour shifts, nor are 12 hour shifts inherently better. Where problem occur is when you don't have downtime to sleep, and you end up running 20 calls in 24 hours.

If you are on a rural truck, and you only run 1 call in 24 hours, great. what if that 1 call is at 10pm, and you have been up all day chilling, doing HW, reading, watching TV, etc, and as you clear the local hospital, you get pulled into "the system", and are dispatched as the closest ambulance to 7 more calls in the city because every time you clear the hospital, the city is slammed and you are the "closest unit." Then what happens? you end up running the next few calls after being awake for 16 hours, 18 hours, maybe even 20 hours.....

The other issue is, in the real world (IE, not in EMS or in certain facets of public safety and healthcare), you are not paid to sleep, you are paid to work. so if you are getting paid for 24 hours of work, it's not unreasonable to expect you to be working for 24 hours, since you are being paid to be there. How hard is it to go to your boss and say you deserve a raise, when they say "you only run 1 call in 24 hours, so you only really 'worked' for 2 of those hours.... why should you get paid more than minimum wage, especially since you slept through most of your shift?

Also keep in mind, many places will pay you less if you are working 24s, on an hourly rate. so if you do some OT on a 12 hour shift, you will get time and a half on that lower pay rate. And if you don't get any sleep on your 24, you are still making that lower pay rate, despite working as hard as the 12 hour trucks for 24 straight hours.

BTW, my "dream shift" is either a 10am to 10pm or noon to midnight shift on 12s, 3/4 days a week (aside from 24/72s in a not too busy system). yes, you will be busy, yes, you will often come online and immediately be put to work, but you can sleep late (don't need to wake up at 5am to make it to work on time), can still go out for a few drinks after work before the bars all close, and you don't have that tired feeling because you are awake and functioning for most of your normal day, so your days off will be awake at the same time.

 

[DrParasite]

Wake EMS used to work a mix of 12s and 24s, but they are in the process of transitioning from the county fire schedule of 24s (XOXOXOOOO) to the pitman schedule or 12 hour shifts for all trucks. They cited the same reasons as the OP, crew fatigue and safety, and units were just too busy to do 24s. An EMS unit could go in service at 7am, get relocated or assigned a job, and that truck might not see their station again for another 12 to 18 hours.

My FD still work 24s, but most of the county fire stations (and in reality, most of the city fire stations as well) aren't answering calls nearly as frequently a our EMS counter parts, at least not on a per unit basis.

 

[CALEMT]

If you are on a rural truck, and you only run 1 call in 24 hours, great. what if that 1 call is at 10pm, and you have been up all day chilling, doing HW, reading, watching TV, etc, and as you clear the local hospital, you get pulled into "the system", and are dispatched as the closest ambulance to 7 more calls in the city because every time you clear the hospital, the city is slammed and you are the "closest unit." Then what happens? you end up running the next few calls after being awake for 16 hours, 18 hours, maybe even 20 hours.....

I employ the safety nap. Take a hour or so long nap after lunch so when/ if you're up from 10 to who knows when you at least have the little bit of sleep going for you. I can't speak for everyone but me personally just laying down in bed and relaxing is enough for me. Maybe its because I take so long to fall asleep, but if I get a short break in between calls where I can dress down and lay down in bed I'm fine with that. I've been to that "zombie" point where I just do work. I've distinctly remember when I was up for 60 hours straight with oh maybe 5 hours of sleep and relaxation. Again, I can't speak for everyone on sleep habits and how you function on lack of sleep. But I still prefer a Kelly schedule or a 48/96, you do your shift and you're off for X amount of days.

 

[Bullets]

BTW, my "dream shift" is either a 10am to 10pm or noon to midnight shift on 12s, 3/4 days a week (aside from 24/72s in a not too busy system). yes, you will be busy, yes, you will often come online and immediately be put to work, but you can sleep late (don't need to wake up at 5am to make it to work on time), can still go out for a few drinks after work before the bars all close, and you don't have that tired feeling because you are awake and functioning for most of your normal day, so your days off will be awake at the same time.

I do 11-11s every Saturday and i wish we had an 11-11 truck during the week. Its really quite amazing