How long of a shift does an EMT and Paramedic work?

Mari031298

Mari031298

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I know shifts are determined by different factors, but how long is an EMT's shift? What about a Paramedic? (:
 
There is no one answer. It could be 8 hours or it could be several weeks at a time.

The most common shifts however are 12 or 24 hours for both EMT and Medic.
 
I work 48 hour shifts.

48 on, followed by 4 days off. Repeat.
 
For my first private company BLS IFT we did 11 hour shifts, Monday-Wednesday-Friday-every other Saturday (other shifts did Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday-every other Saturday) and when I switched to a CCT unit at that company we did 10 hour shifts, unfortunately I can't remember the rotation.

My second private company that did a mix of BLS IFT's and BLS 911 response (Transporting for ALS FD) all 12 hour shifts with Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-every other Saturday, and a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-every other Saturday cycle.

I'm now working single role EMT for a local FD, we work the "Kelley" Schedule, every other day for three shifts, then 4 days off in a row, works out to 3 different platoons working 3 out of every 9 days in a cycle so it'd look something like this: AoAoAoooo Kind of hard to explain since it doesn't follow any weekly or monthly cycle lol. And then they make it even more complicated. Because we have two 12 hour shifts and four 24 hour shifts on the same cycle, they have it so those of us on the 12 hour shifts work all three shifts in the cycle, while they have 3 people assigned to each 24 hour shift, each one working 2 of the 3 shifts (EMT 1 and 2 work day 1, EMT 2 and 3 work day 2, and EMT 1 and 3 work day 3). Confused yet? It's def a bit hard to follow unless you're working it regularly lol
 
I have worked anywhere from 12 to 168 hours shifts since i started working in the field
 
We have 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, and 24 hour shifts where I currently work. I've worked all of them but prefer 12s.
 
Jim37F said:
For my first private company BLS IFT we did 11 hour shifts, Monday-Wednesday-Friday-every other Saturday (other shifts did Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday-every other Saturday) and when I switched to a CCT unit at that company we did 10 hour shifts, unfortunately I can't remember the rotation.

My second private company that did a mix of BLS IFT's and BLS 911 response (Transporting for ALS FD) all 12 hour shifts with Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-every other Saturday, and a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-every other Saturday cycle.

I'm now working single role EMT for a local FD, we work the "Kelley" Schedule, every other day for three shifts, then 4 days off in a row, works out to 3 different platoons working 3 out of every 9 days in a cycle so it'd look something like this: AoAoAoooo Kind of hard to explain since it doesn't follow any weekly or monthly cycle lol. And then they make it even more complicated. Because we have two 12 hour shifts and four 24 hour shifts on the same cycle, they have it so those of us on the 12 hour shifts work all three shifts in the cycle, while they have 3 people assigned to each 24 hour shift, each one working 2 of the 3 shifts (EMT 1 and 2 work day 1, EMT 2 and 3 work day 2, and EMT 1 and 3 work day 3). Confused yet? It's def a bit hard to follow unless you're working it regularly lol
Click to expand...
Lot of information, haha. I believe I understand it. Thank you!
 
I've worked 8, 10, 13, 16, and 24 hour shifts since I started.

Many times longer shifts are used as they do not require as many employees to provide 24 hours coverage but still allow a decent amount of time off.
 
I agree, there is no one answer.

My main dept doesn't schedule (yet) so that's pretty much on call for whomever is around the are. The other organizations I've run with have had 6 or 12 hour shifts, one requires 24 hour shift weekend once a month, 12 hour shifts, and everything in between.
 
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