Paid per call?

Colt45

Colt45

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Hey guys. Thinking about joining another ambulance agency on top of my current job. I was talking on the phone with the HR lady, and she said they are paid $1.00 hourly, but based on the call (signed release, helicopter transport since there are no large hospitals in the area, and ground transport which is 3 hours round trip) you are paid a certain amount. They work 24hr shifts which is nice, but I'm a little worried about the pay. They say the call volume is decent. They pay for gas for the commute. She said the pay was comparable to all "the other medic jobs" but would not really elaborate much more on that. Does anyone have some insight or experience with this kind of system?
 
Sounds sketchy... I wouldn't do anything without a guaranteed minimum per shift and knowing exactly the pay plan to the penny.
 
I was feeling the same. I cant make up 48 hours of pay if we had no calls... but they stated on the phone to come do a 48 hour ride along. See if it fits both parties and go from there. I'm assuming they would elaborate more once I drove down there.
 
It's worth a look I guess. More out of curiosity lol.
 
Honestly? Not worth your time or educational effort. Volunteering, by any other name. If you need income, do something that pays. ED tech, teaching, Home Depot....not this
 
Yeah I see your point RocketMedic. The only thing that keeps me interested is the fact that she said wages are comparable to national paramedic wages (16-18).
 
Colt45 said:
Yeah I see your point RocketMedic. The only thing that keeps me interested is the fact that she said wages are comparable to national paramedic wages (16-18).
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You are only guaranteed $1/hr. So if you have a 24 hour shift and get no calls you only make $24 for your shift and would probably lose money for gas. If you pick up an additional shift at your current company how much will you make?

If you are doing it as a second source of income I would easily pass. If you are ok with treating it as a volunteer position then sure, go for it.
 
Colt45 said:
The only thing that keeps me interested is the fact that she said wages are comparable to national paramedic wages (16-18).
Click to expand...
Then go find a paramedic job that pays that much... guaranteed.
 
This is just a way for the agency to contain costs. Flat pay rates are the standard, at least in the US, so I would be dubious of a company trying to only pay for calls. If it was cheaper for them to pay based on a flat rate they would be doing that instead.

This is basically just being on call but instead of doing what you want to have to stay on a rig for 48 hours, and a dollar an hour is basically being being on call for free. I doubt that the pay per call will make it up. I'd also be very cautious of any system that pays differently for different types of encounters, systems should not be pushing for unnecessary transports.
 
paid per call is on par with volunteering, and used by agencies that can't or don't want to pay for full time staffing. you get paid lower than normal wages when not on a call, but get paid a normal salary (or a better one anyway) when you are on a call. It's very common among volunteer fire departments.

If you can do it in your hometown, where you can be at home sleeping in your own bed, and head to the station if there is a call, sure. or spend one night a week at the station, after you part time job. sure, why not? Been there, done that, have 0 moral or ethical issues with it (and volunteering is good for the soul).

But if you are looking at it for additional income (and $24 won't even cover drinking money), or you have a long commute to get to that job, than hard pass. If I'm going to work, I want a decent hourly rate, where I know how much I am making, and don't have to rely on chance that someone will need an ambulance in order for the shift to be worth my time.
 
The only way this works is if you are getting a staggering amount of money per call- like $1k per call. And that's not happening.
 
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