JPINFV
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Even if the crew is posting?
EMT-Driver (No Breaks?)(No Eating while Driving?)
- Thread starter Vanenix
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Even if the crew is posting?
Technically the company is not required to provide you with lunch time. With that being said, i am having hard time believing that OP did not have down time while waiting for patient etc.
No, only after a call ended. Basically they need to let dispatch know they are free. They either get sent to another call or they told to stay in the area etc. They can't just park the vehicle without being cleared by dispatch first after a call.
Thats a good one.
Well first, you would have a better chance of seeing God roll through your place looking for a job then me.
So your scenario is so far from reality it isnt even worth me risking carpal tunnel syndrome replying.
I've said it time and time again, you can get much better pay, benefits, and working conditions outside of private IFT EMS. Costco, TGIF, Best Buy, Borders, whatever. You'll be much happier if you only work for these jokers per diem, for maybe a shift a week or so, just to show activity on a resume. If you're per diem, they don't own you. You're helping them out by saving them OT and also having to pay benefits. As such, they're generally less apt to abuse you as they would a full timer. Work for them on your own terms. Don't do it FT where they own you.
In big cities like LA it's very easy to find someone to work full time for you doing BLS IFT being that unemployment is high. Your advice might work in good economy but for sure not now. www
Most private employers keep a supply of per diem employees to cover scheduling holes and OT, no? Or do some hire only FT, and mandate employees to stay an additional 8 hours or whatever, to cover holes like third services do?
I'm saying that if given the choice, it's more beneficial to the employee in BLS IFT to do only per diem for the reasons above. Alternatively, get hired FT and then drop down to per diem after a little while, assuming that option exists. Wherever I've worked, the per diem employees have always been treated better than the full timers. It's mentally easier to handle the drama and conditions if you only do it once a week or so.
I work per diem for an IFT as well. It's actually a pretty good one. Getting back to back to back round trippers, 10-12 hours of straight running, taking crap from hospital and NH staff since they don't respect you because of who you work for, nit picking supervisors, etc. is easy to deal with if it's only once in a while. Especially when they don't own you, and you can leave at any time and not need the benefits. Your co-workers are venting, disgruntled, feel like they're stuck, and you're just chillin' making a few bucks, no big deal, enjoying life.
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TransportJockey
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The IFT company I worked for in ABQ gave zero time for lunch unless you were running back to back to back calls. They expected you to grab food while posting, and if you didn't you were SOL
Yeah thats the same with the one im with now. While ive worked mostly nights, we post up at either the hospital(s) or a few other locations. You can get something to eat on your way to the post or while you post as long as you are in the general area. Or bring your own meal. There is no "food break" you just eat when you can where you can. The hospitals have an EMS room with a fridge and mircrowave if needed.
LucidResq
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For the first time in my life I have a job where I have a designated lunch break. It's weird to me.
I never found it that bad not having a designated lunch. I never had a problem stuffing my face between patients, or developing the ability to hold my full bladder for hours. Yeah, sometimes I wouldn't get the chance to breathe or sit down nevermind eat and would be starving coming off work, but my patients all received top notch care and I was just happy to have a good job in such a bad economy. I didn't die or anything.
I hate to say but it is the nature of the job sometimes. You never know when you're going to run on something that becomes quite involved and unfortunately if you're hungry or have to go potty, you're gonna have to wait. You learn to adapt and fit meals in and go potty when you get the chance. You learn to do such things fast.
Of course you can always file a complaint or leave, but this is something common in EMS and many other healthcare fields. Even those that do provide a designated break time, will have to snatch that break from you the second the excrement hits the fan.
I never found it that bad not having a designated lunch. I never had a problem stuffing my face between patients, or developing the ability to hold my full bladder for hours. Yeah, sometimes I wouldn't get the chance to breathe or sit down nevermind eat and would be starving coming off work, but my patients all received top notch care and I was just happy to have a good job in such a bad economy. I didn't die or anything.
I hate to say but it is the nature of the job sometimes. You never know when you're going to run on something that becomes quite involved and unfortunately if you're hungry or have to go potty, you're gonna have to wait. You learn to adapt and fit meals in and go potty when you get the chance. You learn to do such things fast.
Of course you can always file a complaint or leave, but this is something common in EMS and many other healthcare fields. Even those that do provide a designated break time, will have to snatch that break from you the second the excrement hits the fan.
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As an EMT I didn't have designated breaks, and often ate my lunch as my partner drove to a call. I also worked entire shifts without meals, and ate the many snacks I'd back in my backpack.
I've found that many jobs in the real world don't have breaks or lunch hours, and even today in my non-EMS career found myself eating lunch standing up in less than five minutes. As a teacher I'm expected to work without lunch at least once a week, and for many years got UTIs because I didn't have easy access to the restroom. I learned to pack snacks in my desk and use the restroom when I could. It's not easy eating lunch and using the restroom in 15 minutes when your classroom is in the last trailer outside in the back. That's life.
I know it's not easy, but eventually I gave up on complaining and learned to make the best of the situation. In EMS I would eat before a 12 hour shift, pack snacks and bottled water, and relied far too much on gas stations for 2:00 am lunches. It's part of the job.
I've found that many jobs in the real world don't have breaks or lunch hours, and even today in my non-EMS career found myself eating lunch standing up in less than five minutes. As a teacher I'm expected to work without lunch at least once a week, and for many years got UTIs because I didn't have easy access to the restroom. I learned to pack snacks in my desk and use the restroom when I could. It's not easy eating lunch and using the restroom in 15 minutes when your classroom is in the last trailer outside in the back. That's life.
I know it's not easy, but eventually I gave up on complaining and learned to make the best of the situation. In EMS I would eat before a 12 hour shift, pack snacks and bottled water, and relied far too much on gas stations for 2:00 am lunches. It's part of the job.
firecoins
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pack a lunch and let your partner drive on the way to a call. You make sure he gets the same ability for his lunch.
TacoMEDIC
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Good advice
That is good advice and that is what many times happens. I do not know why OP boss had problem with him eating in the car during the transport without patient.
Some places can be understanding if you want to swing by a 7-11 or something on the way to a call. By "on the way," I mean that you're literally passing it. If a pick up time is 1400, for example, and your ETA is about 1345 or so, that leaves enough time to grab a coffee and a beff patty, taquitos, or whatever and still make the floor on time.
At my old IFT company, we could request a 10-100 (meal break) at any time. If they were busy, they would say to pick up something along the way. If you're smart about it and don't stop somewhere like a diner or thai place that takes 15 minutes to prepare your order, you should be good. If no break, bring a cooler. You can do cold cuts, PB&J, frozen berries that will half thaw at some point, veggies and a homemade greek yogurt chipotle dip, a protein shake, maybe a $5 subway footlong or two, just for some ideas. A medium sized cooler with two large ice packs should last from 12-16 hours. Nothing that you need to heat up, though, since a microwaves can be few and far between when you need them. They even sell electric coolers that plug into the car charger, for longer shifts. Perfect for that 24, or the 20 hour long distance txp.
BTW, if you're on OT for a long distance txp, the unwritten rule is that you clear, and then have a meal before getting back on the road. The GPS won't pick up that far away. The time you spend eating pays for the meal.
At my old IFT company, we could request a 10-100 (meal break) at any time. If they were busy, they would say to pick up something along the way. If you're smart about it and don't stop somewhere like a diner or thai place that takes 15 minutes to prepare your order, you should be good. If no break, bring a cooler. You can do cold cuts, PB&J, frozen berries that will half thaw at some point, veggies and a homemade greek yogurt chipotle dip, a protein shake, maybe a $5 subway footlong or two, just for some ideas. A medium sized cooler with two large ice packs should last from 12-16 hours. Nothing that you need to heat up, though, since a microwaves can be few and far between when you need them. They even sell electric coolers that plug into the car charger, for longer shifts. Perfect for that 24, or the 20 hour long distance txp.
BTW, if you're on OT for a long distance txp, the unwritten rule is that you clear, and then have a meal before getting back on the road. The GPS won't pick up that far away. The time you spend eating pays for the meal.
GPS will pick you up even if you're in another stateSome places can be understanding if you want to swing by a 7-11 or something on the way to a call. By "on the way," I mean that you're literally passing it. If a pick up time is 1400, for example, and your ETA is about 1345 or so, that leaves enough time to grab a coffee and a beff patty, taquitos, or whatever and still make the floor on time.
At my old IFT company, we could request a 10-100 (meal break) at any time. If they were busy, they would say to pick up something along the way. If you're smart about it and don't stop somewhere like a diner or thai place that takes 15 minutes to prepare your order, you should be good. If no break, bring a cooler. You can do cold cuts, PB&J, frozen berries that will half thaw at some point, veggies and a homemade greek yogurt chipotle dip, a protein shake, maybe a $5 subway footlong or two, just for some ideas. A medium sized cooler with two large ice packs should last from 12-16 hours. Nothing that you need to heat up, though, since a microwaves can be few and far between when you need them. They even sell electric coolers that plug into the car charger, for longer shifts. Perfect for that 24, or the 20 hour long distance txp.
BTW, if you're on OT for a long distance txp, the unwritten rule is that you clear, and then have a meal before getting back on the road. The GPS won't pick up that far away. The time you spend eating pays for the meal.
i am using http://www.teletrac.net . As long as you do not have hot call and going to make eta, dispatch will not have a problem with you stopping at 7/11 for 3-5 min.
VirginiaEMT
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Some places can be understanding if you want to swing by a 7-11 or something on the way to a call. By "on the way," I mean that you're literally passing it. If a pick up time is 1400, for example, and your ETA is about 1345 or so, that leaves enough time to grab a coffee and a beff patty, taquitos, or whatever and still make the floor on time.
At my old IFT company, we could request a 10-100 (meal break) at any time. If they were busy, they would say to pick up something along the way. If you're smart about it and don't stop somewhere like a diner or thai place that takes 15 minutes to prepare your order, you should be good. If no break, bring a cooler. You can do cold cuts, PB&J, frozen berries that will half thaw at some point, veggies and a homemade greek yogurt chipotle dip, a protein shake, maybe a $5 subway footlong or two, just for some ideas. A medium sized cooler with two large ice packs should last from 12-16 hours. Nothing that you need to heat up, though, since a microwaves can be few and far between when you need them. They even sell electric coolers that plug into the car charger, for longer shifts. Perfect for that 24, or the 20 hour long distance txp.
BTW, if you're on OT for a long distance txp, the unwritten rule is that you clear, and then have a meal before getting back on the road. The GPS won't pick up that far away. The time you spend eating pays for the meal.
For the life of me I can't understand why anyone would want to live like that.
Personally, I eat a lot of small meals and would rather get paid for 12 hours straight with eating something small and quick every 2-3 hours than be forced to take a 30 minute/60 minute unpaid break that consists of 5 minutes of eating +25/55 minutes of sitting watching my partner eat or reading a book in a dirty fast food restaurant or in the ambulance.
BUT I'm a weird eater, and I kind of wonder why everyone *else* is so accepting of these conditions. There's no real reason for an IFT company, at least, to not be able to provide lunches to people who want them; they simply don't want to do so. I understand that EMS means emergencies, which mean not having guaranteed break times, but the hospital wanting to discharge a pt at 1400 instead of 1430 is not an emergency.
Some people will take those type of conditions just to be able to build a resume. For others, that's all they can be. They can't get hired by a good hospital, third service, or FD, whatever the case may be. I wouldn't want to live like that either. That's why, with post # 25, I said that I recommend only doing this per diem. I work at my IFT company maybe once or twice a month, max. If the OT at my real job dries up, I'll pull maybe 48-60 hours on the month, at the most.
Really, when you think about it, it's really not that bad. You could be doing manual labor for a living. I used to load trucks at night when I did a year of college right out of high school. What about McDonald's or something similar? You have to be doing something every minute of your shift, excluding breaks. With IFT, you can close your eyes between calls, text, talk on the phone, study, whatever. You're really only exerting youself when you're moving the pt from bed to bed, and again at the receiving facility. How hard is driving? How would you like to be a cook at a busy diner? That must be hectic and stressful. The hours suck, too. How about an ambulette driver? 8 bucks an hour is all you get for your CDL. They get worked to the bone, too. At 40-50 bucks a pop or so, the company will stack as many as they can throughout the day. How about a CNA that does all the menial tasks and gets slapped around by the nurses? Not to stereotype, but they do clean a fair amount of rear ends. There are much worse or much more labor intensive jobs out there.
When it's all about the money, as is the case in the privates, that 1400-1430 is a half hour of income opportunity. Multiply that half hour break by only ten buses. That's five hours. You can knock out three IFT's in that time, at least. How much for each txp? $300? $500? More for ALS? Time is money. A potential gain of $1500-$2500 per day (minus fuel, wear/tear and supplies), or scheduled meal breaks? That's the way it is, and that's why I chose not to ever do that on a fulltime basis.
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