Length of Shift

MMiz

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I'll be working my first 24 hour shift this Saturday. Because of the holiday, and my not thinking, I volunteered to work from Saturday 8 PM - Sunday 8 PM. Usually I work a 12 hour shift and am tired at the end. I'm wondering what kind of shifts everyone works.

Again, 100% of my shift is spent in a Type II ambulance. 90% up front, 10% in back. This will be my first Sunday day shift, but with the holiday I'm thinking we'll be busy.

It'll be interesting.
 

ffemt8978

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I'm curious as to what type of shifts everyone has. The private departments that I have worked with usually have a 24 on/48 off rotation, with two crews working 12-hour shifts. One ambulance company out here has a 48-hour on/5 DAYS off rotation.

That sounds pretty cool. I mean, you're getting 16-hours of overtime a pay period for basically working a "weekend". Then you get "a full work-week" off.
 
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MMiz

MMiz

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Originally posted by ffemt8978@Jul 3 2004, 12:23 AM
I'm curious as to what type of shifts everyone has. The private departments that I have worked with usually have a 24 on/48 off rotation, with two crews working 12-hour shifts. One ambulance company out here has a 48-hour on/5 DAYS off rotation.

That sounds pretty cool. I mean, you're getting 16-hours of overtime a pay period for basically working a "weekend". Then you get "a full work-week" off.
Did that private company have stations? I just can't see a crew sitting in an ambulance for that long.

We don't have stations. Our HQ is a few miles north of the city, and they believe response times are critical. We have several sister companies, and some have stations that work 48 hour shifts.
 

ffemt8978

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Yeah, they're all stationed. I agree that sitting in a Type II or even a Type III for 12-hours is way too much.

As far as their response times go, some of the calls they go on are pretty rural so you have an extended response right off the bat. Also, FD is paged at the same time, and usually arrive first.
 
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MMiz

MMiz

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Definitely. Quite honestly there are a lot of places with stations. In fact the company that had the contract before us had stations in the city. I'm sure they did a great job, and I honestly dont think patient care was compromised. I think it's all about having absurdly amazing response times for our first contract with a city.

Forget 12 hours in a Type II, I have 24.
 

ffemt8978

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I'm told that cot can be mighty comfortable.... :ph34r:
 

ResTech

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When I first started working at my current station we were working 24's and 16's. Now though we primarily work 12hr shifts. Every other Saturday I work a 24hr. I work out of a fire station and have a day room so in between calls the downtime is ours to do with what we want (ie, watch TV, sleep, Internet, study, etc.).
 
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