Work Schedule

[RibbonRider]

Hey y'all, I have quite a few questions about EMTs and Paramedics. I've been able to find some answers on my own, but I can't find any solid answers on the question of scheduling. Are shifts done differently by every facility? Or by every state? Or based on rank? What about those of you who have families...? Is it upseting to not be able to go home to you husband/wife every night?

(That's right - Emergencies and A&P and blood, I can handle. Not snuggling up with my hunny every night, not sure if I can handle that.)

 

[Chimpie]

Every company or department can do what they want. Some work 8's, some work 12's, some rotate, some do not. When applying it's best to ask up front what type of schedule they use. It will save you the time of applying and interviewing if you don't want that type of set up. Oh, and yes, it could also depend on rank.

As for spending time away from loved ones, yeah, that can be rough. I used to work 12's and switched from days one week to nights the next. I really liked it cause I also got a week's vacation every month so there was plenty of time to get all caught up and spend time with the family.

 

[Phridae]

I do ride alongs with another amublance company out of northern Illinois sometimes. They work a 24 on 48 off schedule. Where I'm at now, there really isnt a set schedule. We have a few full time medics and I think just one full time emt. We have a primary crew and a back up crew. I don't think that anyone works more than 2.5 days at a time between primary and backup. I know, 2.5 days! But we're not at the station all day. Just between 8am-4pm. Then they responde from home. The only person who works more is the emt. He works sometimes 4 days straight. The only time our medics have to work a lot is when ones sick, or goes on vacation, or something happens in the family. We only have 4 medics in the city. Then we have 4 more that live elsewhere and come to work. It all works out here. There is talk of it going to 24/48 by the end of this year, but we'll see. Hope that helps a bit.

 

[ffemt8978]

One company around here works a 48 hour shift with 5 consecutive days off! Most fire departments that I have seen work the 24 on/48 off rotation but Chimpie is right. They can set up any schedule that they want.

 

[emtbuff]

Okay being a volley squad we run pretty much every third weekend and every third weeknights. Our shift is from 6am to 6pm during the week. And then go on at 6am on Saturday and run till 6am on Monday. Then we have to call in for back up when we go out of town on a transfer.

 

[medic03]

my workplace has it's medics and EMT's on 8's and 12's. It depends on how long you been there plus what shift is opening up. We just hired a few EMT's and they all got 12 hour lines because they had openings, but any new medic starting gets 8's.

 

[RibbonRider]

Thanks for the imput

 

[MMiz]

Where I work both EMTs and Medics work 12s, EMTs working 4 a week, and Medics working three.

 

[Summit]

A lot of servicesaound here (including mine) work a Modified Kelly shift: 9 days
24 on, 24 off, 24 on, 24 off, 24 on, 4 days off
means a 48 or 72 hr work week. overtime is nice.

Another service works 48 on 5 days off. That would be my ideal schedule.

 

[lindsayn2]

The service I work for here in Topeka, Kansas (not to name any names) is a private ambulance company. We work the 24 on 24 off 24 on 24 off 24 on 4 days off. I love it!!!!! It is so nice to have the 4 days in a row off. The only down side to this is you do have a lot of overtime at least here at our service plus you get a lot of newbies that get burned out very quickly and makes the turnover that much greater. That is when you get smacked with the lovely pink slip called the draft slip. You refuse 2 drafts in a 365 day period and your out of a job.

 

[PArescueEMT]

i'll stick to my nice little 2nd shift (16.00-00.00) with my 24 hr supervisory on-call thank you.

 

[Wingnut]

Our county does 24 on 48 off. Everyone seems to like it.

 

[medic03]

I hate working 8's, but that's what my boss has for now. pretty soon I see some 12 hour shifts opening up, but for now I'm there 5 days a week for work. I also teach a medic class, so I'm there on my days off. How much does that suck!

 

[Phridae]

Oh, I forgot to mention that the shifts here are from 8a-8p for a 12, and 8a-8a for a 24. We have some people who I dont think can make it through a 24.

We dont have 8 hour shifts around here. That would just be a tease. We hardly run more than 1 or 2 calls a day. So the chances of that happening in an 8 hour shift is not very high.