Austin Travis County EMS hiring Paramedics and paying them as Basics

[46Young]

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-05-08/high-stress-at-ems/

That's horrible! I've seen mental breakdowns by co-workers more than a few times, severe alcoholism that cost them their jobs and marriages, and depression/anger management issues, but never suicide. I read Trish McAuliffe's account of her son (in the comments), and how he had changed for the worse, before taking his life.

How accurate is the article about all of the issues with ATCEMS? It sounds like things could be fixed if they went to the 42 hr schedule, better protection/job security by not being able to be decertified and fired so easily, if there were paramedic initiated refusals and referrals to places other than an ED, and returning to a ALS/BLS tiered system. Maybe bump the pay some to achieve some measure of parity with fire and police, and employee retention should improve. The calls are going to be what they are, but the employees will be better able to weather the storm if there are better working conditions including a drastic reduction of forced OT, and doing away with having to be on call. I'm willing to bet that forced OT is worse than it should be because people that would sign up for OT wont do it because they get more than enough hours from being forced to work extra hours.

Can an employee claim the forced OT hours as comp time instead of pay? I would just use the OT to build my comp bank at 1.5x time, and then take all of the vacation days that I could, and also bang in sick occasionally for a mental health day.

The article says that ATCEMS has 37 ambulances, some of which are not 24/7, to handle a yearly call volume of 138,000, over 990 square miles, with a population of 1.15 million. For comparison, my department serves an area of 406 square miles, with a population of 1.118 million. We have 91,000 calls, maybe 75% are EMS, so the yearly EMS call volume is about 68,250. That is handled by 42 ALS ambulances, each of which are 24/7/365, with occasional extra ambulances from the volunteers. The call volume here isn't super slow, but it isn't really busy either. The average unit runs 4.45 calls in a 24 hr period based on those figures, where a few run 1-2, and few run 10-11 at the most. I would say that ATCEMS people are being severely overworked. If ATCEMS has a call volume that's double of what our ambulances are doing, and I was being forced to do holdover or recall OT frequently, I would certainly burn out if I worked there. If ATCEMS units were all 24/7/365, the average call volume would be 9.94/24 hrs. I had a similar situation in Charleston County back in 2007-2008, where I didn't even make six months OTJ before leaving for my current employer. I was OTJ for two months when I was called with the job offer, and just prior to that call I was already set up to drop to per diem at Charleston, and work for MUSC Hospital, where they work 3 12's per week, with an hourly rate much higher than CCEMS. I suspect that people at ATCEMS explore similar options, working for other systems, or escaping to police or fire. Having the constant uncertainty of whether or not you're going to be stuck at work on your day off, and never being able to make concrete plans,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfax_County_Fire_and_Rescue_Department

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfax_County,_Virginia

Edit: correction, 37 ambulances per the article

 

[MedicSansBrains]

That's horrible! I've seen mental breakdowns by co-workers more than a few times, severe alcoholism that cost them their jobs and marriages, and depression/anger management issues, but never suicide. I read Trish McAuliffe's account of her son (in the comments), and how he had changed for the worse, before taking his life.

How accurate is the article about all of the issues with ATCEMS? It sounds like things could be fixed if they went to the 42 hr schedule, better protection/job security by not being able to be decertified and fired so easily, if there were paramedic initiated refusals and referrals to places other than an ED, and returning to a ALS/BLS tiered system. Maybe bump the pay some to achieve some measure of parity with fire and police, and employee retention should improve. The calls are going to be what they are, but the employees will be better able to weather the storm if there are better working conditions including a drastic reduction of forced OT, and doing away with having to be on call. I'm willing to bet that forced OT is worse than it should be because people that would sign up for OT wont do it because they get more than enough hours from being forced to work extra hours.

Can an employee claim the forced OT hours as comp time instead of pay? I would just use the OT to build my comp bank at 1.5x time, and then take all of the vacation days that I could, and also bang in sick occasionally for a mental health day.

The article says that ATCEMS has 37 ambulances, some of which are not 24/7, to handle a yearly call volume of 138,000, over 990 square miles, with a population of 1.15 million. For comparison, my department serves an area of 406 square miles, with a population of 1.118 million. We have 91,000 calls, maybe 75% are EMS, so the yearly EMS call volume is about 68,250. That is handled by 42 ALS ambulances, each of which are 24/7/365, with occasional extra ambulances from the volunteers. The call volume here isn't super slow, but it isn't really busy either. The average unit runs 4.45 calls in a 24 hr period based on those figures, where a few run 1-2, and few run 10-11 at the most. I would say that ATCEMS people are being severely overworked. If ATCEMS has a call volume that's double of what our ambulances are doing, and I was being forced to do holdover or recall OT frequently, I would certainly burn out if I worked there. If ATCEMS units were all 24/7/365, the average call volume would be 9.94/24 hrs. I had a similar situation in Charleston County back in 2007-2008, where I didn't even make six months OTJ before leaving for my current employer. I was OTJ for two months when I was called with the job offer, and just prior to that call I was already set up to drop to per diem at Charleston, and work for MUSC Hospital, where they work 3 12's per week, with an hourly rate much higher than CCEMS. I suspect that people at ATCEMS explore similar options, working for other systems, or escaping to police or fire. Having the constant uncertainty of whether or not you're going to be stuck at work on your day off, and never being able to make concrete plans,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfax_County_Fire_and_Rescue_Department

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfax_County,_Virginia

Edit: correction, 37 ambulances per the article

Yeah it's not good. ATCEMS is a county system too so there are quite a few square miles. Most of the time you'll be working shifts in the busy stations getting 9 calls in a 12 hour shift, not 24.

I'm still in medic school in Austin so I don't work there. But I have done quite a few clinicals with them. Of course I pick busy stations for the experience so my view might be skewed but for the most part I think I'm right on the fact that they are constantly running all shift.

Also, I think there's a policy problem that is possibly delineated when contrasting your numbers with ATCEMS. Your population is similar, but less square miles, however your call volume is a lot lower. I've brought up before that Austin's homeless population has a lot to do with that but I didn't bring up another possible contributing factor as.

Austin's EMS policy is that private ambulances can't run emergency calls or upgrade facility to facility transfers. The emergency part is pretty common I'm sure but the facility transfers I'm not sure.

For example, I ran with a station that happened to be around a lot of nursing homes. We ran something like 6-8 nursing home to hospital transfers in 12 hours along with other stuff. It was an amazing waste of a 911 service I thought.

Even if a private ambulance is servicing a downgrade (hospital to nursing home) if they run into problems en route and the person codes etc. then they have to call 911 and transfer care in the middle of the street or whatever.

I'm not sure how much this unnecessarily amplifies the call volume of ATCEMS but I bet it's one of the factors. maybe @Chewy20 can answer this.

Pure conjecture but I bet this has its roots in reimbursement. Please correct me if I'm wrong but an upgraded facility to facility transfer is well documented enough that medicare will pay for it consistently right? So maybe ATCEMS is trying to get as much reimbursement to increase billables. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just trying to reason why this policy exists.

There should be a serious reconsideration of things both in ATCEMS and in the profession as a whole. It is pretty disheartening to read about all of the problems in a profession that I'm excited to get into. It kinda makes me... not excited. That poor guy was excited when he moved to Austin and was "happy go lucky". Then he killed himself. Jeez.

I hope the profession/industry changes and starts adding things like community paramedicine and community education and involvement. As a society we should evolve more in that direction. Having a much larger focus on health and bringing it to the population and helping them live healthier happier lives.

Rather we get crap budgets (ATCEMS was 77 million, Fire was 180 million, APD was almost 400 million..) and have to parse it out to meet "minimum requirements" and F*(*(&ing response times.

rambling on, rambling on, rambling on.

 

[46Young]

Yeah it's not good. ATCEMS is a county system too so there are quite a few square miles. Most of the time you'll be working shifts in the busy stations getting 9 calls in a 12 hour shift, not 24.

I'm still in medic school in Austin so I don't work there. But I have done quite a few clinicals with them. Of course I pick busy stations for the experience so my view might be skewed but for the most part I think I'm right on the fact that they are constantly running all shift.

Also, I think there's a policy problem that is possibly delineated when contrasting your numbers with ATCEMS. Your population is similar, but less square miles, however your call volume is a lot lower. I've brought up before that Austin's homeless population has a lot to do with that but I didn't bring up another possible contributing factor as.

Austin's EMS policy is that private ambulances can't run emergency calls or upgrade facility to facility transfers. The emergency part is pretty common I'm sure but the facility transfers I'm not sure.

For example, I ran with a station that happened to be around a lot of nursing homes. We ran something like 6-8 nursing home to hospital transfers in 12 hours along with other stuff. It was an amazing waste of a 911 service I thought.

Even if a private ambulance is servicing a downgrade (hospital to nursing home) if they run into problems en route and the person codes etc. then they have to call 911 and transfer care in the middle of the street or whatever.

I'm not sure how much this unnecessarily amplifies the call volume of ATCEMS but I bet it's one of the factors. maybe @Chewy20 can answer this.

Pure conjecture but I bet this has its roots in reimbursement. Please correct me if I'm wrong but an upgraded facility to facility transfer is well documented enough that medicare will pay for it consistently right? So maybe ATCEMS is trying to get as much reimbursement to increase billables. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just trying to reason why this policy exists.

There should be a serious reconsideration of things both in ATCEMS and in the profession as a whole. It is pretty disheartening to read about all of the problems in a profession that I'm excited to get into. It kinda makes me... not excited. That poor guy was excited when he moved to Austin and was "happy go lucky". Then he killed himself. Jeez.

I hope the profession/industry changes and starts adding things like community paramedicine and community education and involvement. As a society we should evolve more in that direction. Having a much larger focus on health and bringing it to the population and helping them live healthier happier lives.

Rather we get crap budgets (ATCEMS was 77 million, Fire was 180 million, APD was almost 400 million..) and have to parse it out to meet "minimum requirements" and F*(*(&ing response times.

rambling on, rambling on, rambling on.

Don't get too disheartened, it sounds like they're trying to change things for the better. Even though ATCEMS has it's share of problems, if you can overlook the forced OT and the mandatory BLS entry point, it's probably a lot better deal than many other single role EMS employers. They're Civil Service with a pension, and it sounds like they provide the equipment and protocols to let you do your job as a medic. Other employers can pay medics $12/hr, and have crappy equipment/protocols/rigs. The Southeast sucks for pay, for example. You could also be working for a private like RM or AMR, where your job is in jeopardy each time the contract needs to be renewed, or if the current situation becomes unprofitable for the company. You could be stuck doing transfers in-between 911 calls. Your system could be SSM/PUM, which is absolutely miserable. ATCEMS should still be better than a lot of places. Your getting into paramedicine at a time where things seem to be changing for the better, so don't psyche yourself out just yet. I went to the fire service, and have over seven years on, so I'm staying put, but I wouldn't be opposed to doing some single role per diem 911 work in TX, SC, or FL after retirement, just to keep a little busy.

In my particular case, I was getting a little burnt from single role EMS six years in when I joined the fire service, and I'm a little more burnt now. The significant calls don't bother me too much. I look at it like what's going to happen to someone is going to happen someone, and I'm just trying to use my training to mitigate it to the best of my ability. If a child dies in my care, or if I cant resuscitate the 38 y/o guy that dropped dead five minutes after I made contact, I'm okay with it, so long as my team and I did the best that we could to prevent it. Some patients are just too far gone for us to help out. What burns me out, besides lack of sleep, is all of the non-acute calls. The job actually becomes quite boring and mundane, and you can get a little resentful when you get awakened three times a night for trivial issues, and are useless for much of the day following your shift, assuming that you're not held over for forced OT. I only do real paramedicine very occasionally, so the joy of working txp is not there. I like medicine, and some hand-holding and comfort care is okay, but I'm not okay with trivial calls making up the majority of calls. Having a tiered ALS/BLS system will reverse that somewhat. Hopefully ATCEMS does that.



Where I work we have a similar policy where IFT units cannot run emergent NH/Urgent Care/doctor's office calls - that's for 911 only. We run Urgent Care stuff all the time, and we also have an Assisted Living/NH metropolis called Greenspring Village which calls 4 times a day or more. Plenty of Kaiser Permanente calls throughout the county. We also do an IFT out of the ED very occasionally, maybe 1-2 a week if that, if the IFT company has a long ETA. It would seem that my county also likes the guaranteed income from NH and clinic calls. We have to balance out the undomiciled and undocumented with no insurance. It's not as big of a problem as Austin I'm sure, but we still get our share of drunks, homeless, and the uninsured that use the ED as their PCP.

 

[Aprz]

Got this in the mail today and thought of this thread.

I also got an e-mail.

I did go to their website awhile ago and filled out something to receive notifications about job openings. I'm not sure if I am willing to move until I try my options out here in California. I also would prefer not to get hired on as an EMT and have to wait to be promoted paramedic.

 

[PotatoMedic]

Yup got the same thing in the mail. Same reservations and I'm not sure my wife would be willing to move either.

 

[kev54]

Out of curiosity if you get hired as a medic 1 is it even possible to find time to go to Paramedic school while working? Or are some of the new hires just getting promoted when they already had their Paramedic and the medic 1 just may not have the time to go to Paramedic school because of what has been mentioned above?

 

[Chewy20]

Out of curiosity if you get hired as a medic 1 is it even possible to find time to go to Paramedic school while working? Or are some of the new hires just getting promoted when they already had their Paramedic and the medic 1 just may not have the time to go to Paramedic school because of what has been mentioned above?

Most were already certified paramedics. Yes you can still go to school. Though the community college in Austin makes it extremely hard on ATCEMS employees. They don't let you do rideouts with ATC if you work there. Their schedule and clinical time is not ideal and it's over two years.

You would be better off driving to either San Antonio or better yet temple/Hutto for their courses.

Paramedic school will put a strain on your life no matter what your job is. If you can suck it up like everyone else has. It will end eventually.

 

[46Young]

Most were already certified paramedics. Yes you can still go to school. Though the community college in Austin makes it extremely hard on ATCEMS employees. They don't let you do rideouts with ATC if you work there. Their schedule and clinical time is not ideal and it's over two years.

You would be better off driving to either San Antonio or better yet temple/Hutto for their courses.

Paramedic school will put a strain on your life no matter what your job is. If you can suck it up like everyone else has. It will end eventually.

I think Kev54 means that the ACTEMS employee going to medic school is likely going to get screwed with mandatory holdover or recall OT, which will conflict with class and clinicals. Even if there is no conflict, I'm sure that running busy 24's with little to no sleep, and then being held over will run them into the ground, causing them to fail the class. I did 40 hrs/wk on an ambulance with an occasional voluntary 12 of OT, and that was a lot with 16 hours of class per week with another 32+ hours of clinicals for most of the 13 months of the program. That was almost too much. I can't even begin to imagine the torture of being held over on a regular basis and trying to get through medic school.

 

[Chewy20]

I think Kev54 means that the ACTEMS employee going to medic school is likely going to get screwed with mandatory holdover or recall OT, which will conflict with class and clinicals. Even if there is no conflict, I'm sure that running busy 24's with little to no sleep, and then being held over will run them into the ground, causing them to fail the class. I did 40 hrs/wk on an ambulance with an occasional voluntary 12 of OT, and that was a lot with 16 hours of class per week with another 32+ hours of clinicals for most of the 13 months of the program. That was almost too much. I can't even begin to imagine the torture of being held over on a regular basis and trying to get through medic school.

We are on "OCP" (on-call), one day a month...Its not that much to handle haha. Also, I am RARELY held over on a 24 due to a late call. Sure it happens once in a while, but that's EMS. People are doing the whole school thing right now, so you cant really have too many excuses. Word is ATC is TRYING to get an in-house program, but who knows how long that will take.

People go to college full-time, while working full-time, while taking care of a family.

 

[46Young]

From what I've read, it sounded like mandatory holdovers were a frequent thing, not just on-call once a month with a rare holdover due to no relief. Are you saying that besides the once per month on-call, it's rare to be held over for for an additional 12-24 hrs after your regular shift due to no relief or someone banging out sick? Are you saying that these schedule holes typically get covered with voluntary OT?

We rarely get late calls where I work, but that's simply because it's customary to relieve your person an hour prior to the start of shift. Getting stuck for an extra 12-24 hrs is a totally different matter.

Edit: @Chewy20's last post

 

[kev54]

More along those lines of what 46Young said. If it's doable that's good. I'm surprised they wouldn't just implement a work study so people could go to class at ACC and work part time hours but maybe it's not feasible? That seems easier than trying to start a in house medic program and deal with accreditation and all the hoops you have to jump through. Thank you for the information Chewy20 greatly appreciated.

 

[Chewy20]

From what I've read, it sounded like mandatory holdovers were a frequent thing, not just on-call once a month with a rare holdover due to no relief. Are you saying that besides the once per month on-call, it's rare to be held over for for an additional 12-24 hrs after your regular shift due to no relief or someone banging out sick? Are you saying that these schedule holes typically get covered with voluntary OT?

We rarely get late calls where I work, but that's simply because it's customary to relieve your person an hour prior to the start of shift. Getting stuck for an extra 12-24 hrs is a totally different matter.

Edit: @Chewy20's last post

Oh that's what you meant? You will NEVER be held over for anything other than a late call. There's the OCP list, if that gets exhausted then they will use the accumulative list. Accumulative list is not often used as the people on OCP usually cover all the open spots.

More often then not, open slots are taken by volunteers looking for overtime. The past 2 out of 3 times I have been on-call. I never had to go in.

 

[Chewy20]

More along those lines of what 46Young said. If it's doable that's good. I'm surprised they wouldn't just implement a work study so people could go to class at ACC and work part time hours but maybe it's not feasible? That seems easier than trying to start a in house medic program and deal with accreditation and all the hoops you have to jump through. Thank you for the information Chewy20 greatly appreciated.

Part-time is a no go here. So that's out the window. Would just create more open seats in the system.

 

[kev54]

makes sense unless you found a way to fill them.

 

[46Young]

Oh that's what you meant? You will NEVER be held over for anything other than a late call. There's the OCP list, if that gets exhausted then they will use the accumulative list. Accumulative list is not often used as the people on OCP usually cover all the open spots.

More often then not, open slots are taken by volunteers looking for overtime. The past 2 out of 3 times I have been on-call. I never had to go in.

This story, and what you are saying are 180 degrees apart:

http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local/2015/01/14/atcems-medics-ask-for-change-support/21788485/


TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas -- Austin-Travis County EMS paramedics are grieving after on of their fellow medics committed suicide earlier this week.

EMS staff tells KVUE another fellow medic committed suicide in 2014. While they may never know exactly what led their co-workers to that point, they said something needs to change to get them the help they need on the job.

"It's the profession we've chosen. You see tragedy and you want to help and you want to make a difference and you can't help but have that affect you," said ATCEMS Association President Tony Marquardt.

Marquardt has worked as a medic for 20 years.

"We don't mind being called in for a plane crash or a multi-car accident," he said.

But, he said they're understaffed and overtime seems to be all the time.

"Being called in on accumulative overtime is happening with regularity as if it were a normal way of running a schedule," said Marquardt.

He said the tragic loss of a fellow medic this week has created even more conversation, especially online where many coworkers are changing their profile pictures to a badge and speaking out about the need for more support in the workplace.

"People are reaching out on social media because they're, frankly, over worked," Marquardt said.

"They love the system. They love taking care of patients. But they don't like being taken for granted," said Public Safety Commissioner Mike Levy.

Levy said turnover in paramedics is high -- around five or six a month. He worries it will ultimately hurt the patient as well.

"If they're fatigued and the morale is low, there's going to be lesser patient care in terms of quality," he said.

As they grieve for one of their own this week, they're also asking to be heard.

"There are definitely things that are out there that need to be changed and need to be addressed and I think acknowledging that is the first step," Marquardt said.

A spokesperson for Austin Travis County EMS tells us they do have a psychologist on staff who is there whenever employees need help.

During the month of December alone EMS responded to more than 10,000 calls in Austin and Travis County.


Are you saying that Marquardt is making up these claims of frequent pulls from the accumulative list, that it's a normal way of running the schedule? We have over 1,500 people on our department, and we lose maybe 1-3 people per month, and that's mostly due to retirement. Losing 5-6/month seems to be a real problem.

 

[Chewy20]

This story, and what you are saying are 180 degrees apart:

http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local/2015/01/14/atcems-medics-ask-for-change-support/21788485/


TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas -- Austin-Travis County EMS paramedics are grieving after on of their fellow medics committed suicide earlier this week.

EMS staff tells KVUE another fellow medic committed suicide in 2014. While they may never know exactly what led their co-workers to that point, they said something needs to change to get them the help they need on the job.

"It's the profession we've chosen. You see tragedy and you want to help and you want to make a difference and you can't help but have that affect you," said ATCEMS Association President Tony Marquardt.

Marquardt has worked as a medic for 20 years.

"We don't mind being called in for a plane crash or a multi-car accident," he said.

But, he said they're understaffed and overtime seems to be all the time.

"Being called in on accumulative overtime is happening with regularity as if it were a normal way of running a schedule," said Marquardt.

He said the tragic loss of a fellow medic this week has created even more conversation, especially online where many coworkers are changing their profile pictures to a badge and speaking out about the need for more support in the workplace.

"People are reaching out on social media because they're, frankly, over worked," Marquardt said.

"They love the system. They love taking care of patients. But they don't like being taken for granted," said Public Safety Commissioner Mike Levy.

Levy said turnover in paramedics is high -- around five or six a month. He worries it will ultimately hurt the patient as well.

"If they're fatigued and the morale is low, there's going to be lesser patient care in terms of quality," he said.

As they grieve for one of their own this week, they're also asking to be heard.

"There are definitely things that are out there that need to be changed and need to be addressed and I think acknowledging that is the first step," Marquardt said.

A spokesperson for Austin Travis County EMS tells us they do have a psychologist on staff who is there whenever employees need help.

During the month of December alone EMS responded to more than 10,000 calls in Austin and Travis County.


Are you saying that Marquardt is making up these claims of frequent pulls from the accumulative list, that it's a normal way of running the schedule? We have over 1,500 people on our department, and we lose maybe 1-3 people per month, and that's mostly due to retirement. Losing 5-6/month seems to be a real problem.

He is the head of the Employee association, and its media...Not once in my time of over a year working here, have I been called in off the accumulative list. All there really is to say.

The department is understaffed. There is no denying that. I would go ahead and say the hours worked are the last reason people are quitting. The OCP/Accumulative list are trying to be done away with. We will see what the future holds when we switch to 42 hour work weeks along with 24/72s in January.

Also, "Getting called in for a multi-car accident"? lol.

To clarify...The lists contain people who are not scheduled for that day and when it will not conflict within 8 hours of another shift. OCP days are on your schedule when you bid (so you will know what days to expect to go in, 10 months ahead.)

 

[triemal04]

"Being called in on accumulative overtime is happening with regularity as if it were a normal way of running a schedule," said Marquardt

The problem is, what does that actually mean? Does that mean that every employee is being called in with regularity? Are there multiple spots each shift that are filled that way? One spot per day? Several per week? While a great soundbite, and from the labor perspective a great way to make their case, it's really a pretty nebulous comment that needs further explanation. (and believe me, I'm fully on the side of labor)

Where I work we also (like almost every department) have mandatory overtime. At a guess I'd say that over the course of the year 75% or so of the department will get held over on mandatory overtime ONCE. So, you could also say about my department that it is happening "with regularity as if it were a normal way of running a schedule," and be completely accurate...although the reality is that it is so infrequent on a personal level that it's benign.

 

[46Young]

"Being called in on accumulative overtime is happening with regularity as if it were a normal way of running a schedule," said Marquardt

The problem is, what does that actually mean? Does that mean that every employee is being called in with regularity? Are there multiple spots each shift that are filled that way? One spot per day? Several per week? While a great soundbite, and from the labor perspective a great way to make their case, it's really a pretty nebulous comment that needs further explanation. (and believe me, I'm fully on the side of labor)

Where I work we also (like almost every department) have mandatory overtime. At a guess I'd say that over the course of the year 75% or so of the department will get held over on mandatory overtime ONCE. So, you could also say about my department that it is happening "with regularity as if it were a normal way of running a schedule," and be completely accurate...although the reality is that it is so infrequent on a personal level that it's benign.

Once in a while we get holdovers during the week, but for the medics in busy stations, they're regularly in jeopardy of getting held on Sat. and Sun. Our relief is one for one, then it goes to others in the station, then it goes to the battalion holdover/recall list, then it goes department-wide. We try to avoid holdover by working the evening half preceding our shift, which puts us at 36 hrs when the holdover would occur. We have a 36 hour forced OT cap. Some people do work exchanges to create a 36 hour situation, and others try to get the OT.

The ambulances in busy stations get screwed. The OT spots typically get covered with the slower stations, and the truck/engine spots are typically covered as well. Since it's in-station then in-battalion, people that work there get the shaft, while people in slower stations rarely, if ever, get held over.

 

[Chewy20]

Once in a while we get holdovers during the week, but for the medics in busy stations, they're regularly in jeopardy of getting held on Sat. and Sun. Our relief is one for one, then it goes to others in the station, then it goes to the battalion holdover/recall list, then it goes department-wide. We try to avoid holdover by working the evening half preceding our shift, which puts us at 36 hrs when the holdover would occur. We have a 36 hour forced OT cap. Some people do work exchanges to create a 36 hour situation, and others try to get the OT.

The ambulances in busy stations get screwed. The OT spots typically get covered with the slower stations, and the truck/engine spots are typically covered as well. Since it's in-station then in-battalion, people that work there get the shaft, while people in slower stations rarely, if ever, get held over.

Sounds ten times worse then our way of doing it by being on-call once a month lol. Maybe there should be news articles about yall!

 

[46Young]

Sounds ten times worse then our way of doing it by being on-call once a month lol. Maybe there should be news articles about yall!

You're probably right. I could do over 100 or more hours of OT, and they'll still hold me if I have no relief. What I do is take the forced OT at 1.5x comp time, and just take another Sat or Sun off. I used to not do that, but I work so much OT that I have no problem playing hooky to take a day back. The truth is, I'd rather be able to work OT whenever I want to, instead of having the OT strictly controlled, which would lead me to work at some IFT company making less than half of my OT rate doing the dialysis derby, MRI round trips, and IV/monitor/O2 txp's ad nauseum.

I assume that your department doesn't do one for one relief? Meaning that if your relief calls in sick, and they don't have the spot filled, you can leave the unit out of service and go home? Or is it that the vacancy will never occur because there are enough OT tramps looking to pad their income?

Edit: The forced OT was way worse when I worked for Charleston County EMS back in 2007. I basically had no life. From reading articles on A/TCEMS, they make it seem like evryone is forced to work a bazillion hours of forced OT every month. I can take a beating on a busy 24 if I don't have to stay for an additional 12-24 against my will.