Charleston County EMS, SC, looked good on paper. Start as a medic crew member at a rate of 38000/yr, then upgrade to crew chief after six months for a base of 45,000/yr, top out of 68,000/yr. Shifts are 24/48, no kelly's, or 12 hrs - XXXOOXXOOO. Beautiful place to live, but the surfing sucked.
It takes 10 years to top out. No union. Promotions are of the good ole' boy methodology. All units have at least one medic. Paramilitary structure - EMT=private, medic crew member=corporal, crew chief=sergeant, station medic crew chief officer=Lt. Supervisors are Lt II, Capt I, CaptII(I think) major, and the director.
All ALS 911 only County based third service, ran out of stations. Work environment varies from ghetto urban to suburban, to McMansions, to straight up rural. RSI capable.
28 year state retirement at 50%, OT not factored in. Medical coverage leaves much to be desired with large deductables.
To get off for a holiday, you MUST get someone to cover, or you're SOL. It saves them the headache of filling vacancies, speaking of which...... 12 hour personnel can be held for up to 36 hours total. 24 hour personnel for 48 hours, as often as necessary. Twice monthly, you're on call for 12 hours. You're only paid if you're called in, no compensation for having to be readily available. You'll be recalled as often as necessary, irrespective of how much OT you sign up for.
When you take sick or personal time, your OT hours will convert to straight time. Example: 56 hours scheduled = 40 straight time, 16 time and a half. If you take 12 hours off, you're paid 40 straight time, 4 time and a half, and 12 additional hours straight time.
The EPCR is used for reports. Reports are able to be sent electronically to the hosp. Oftentimes, you'll roll up at the hosp, and the next job is already on the screen. You need to offload the pt as quickly as possible, get the RN to sign the blank tablet, and go to the next call, pronto. Multiply this by about 6-10 jobs, then fast forward to 0230 hours, where you're trying to play catch-up. Is it 0700 already? No problem! Just sync your unfinished reports to the station computer and keep going. Stuck for an additional 24 hours? Deal with it.
When you check your rig, it had better have EXACTLY the correct number of everything. 24 4x4's, not 23 or 25. 20 band aids. No kidding, no exaggeration. I was written up for stuff like that, as were others.
At any time, you can be rotated to another station or a street corner for coverage. This typically happens 1-3 times nightly, breaking up any chance at sleep. The rule for converting a 24 hour rig to a 12 hour one is if the unit is out of the station for call more than 60% of the time. Those sleep depriving relocations don't count, however.
Local FDs give BLS back, except for Mt. Pleasant, who have engine medics.
Ther are a number of good ole' boys who are still fighting the war. I've been told that the war isn't over, it's only halftime. Ther are so many from Ohio, that natives started this website:
www.gobacktoohio.com
Frequently I witnessed medics just loading the pt and taking off, maybe getting some thing done. I don't like to stay on scene for long, but I do like to get some things squared away so I can better manage the pt when I'm alone in the back, should they have the CTD potential. "Just take 'em to the hospital, boy, what are we gonna do for 'em?" is what I've heard on more than one occasion.
Turnover is huge there. You do the math on that.
Other choices include hospital based IFT with either MUSC or Roper hosp, both excellent choices. Other neighboring EMS agencies are either low paying TSEMS or FBEMS dual role.
CME's are mandatory and are given monthly in 6 hour blocks, for straight time, on your off day. Held over after your shift is over? Find a way to attend the other session(mutual or paid time off) or be written up. Even if you were held over repeatedly.
there RSI QA/QI was such a fiasco, the dept made up a reference chart with dosages given based on pt weight in #'s in 25 lb increments
When I had the chance, I broke out like a 14 year old going through puberty.
