What does your agency do to get you home on time?

[Shishkabob]

What has your agency implemented to try and get you off duty on time?


Mine implemented something where 45 minutes before end of shift, dispatch tries to get a second truck to your post so if a call comes in they get it. 30 minutes before your EOS, you're cleared to head back to base. If a high priority call comes in (such as a cardiac arrest) and you're the closest unit, you're it. The unwritten rule is 1 hour before EOS, you can't get any transfers.

Now, this isn't always consistent, as your cover truck can get a call then you get one, or there may not be any trucks close enough to cover you.



So, what does yours do, if anything?

 

[Medic Tim]

We run off of a ssp, so trucks are shifted around to get you back to base. Every once and a while we will get a late call but it is very rare to be held over. If we do it is usually for less than an hour. All 12 hour shifts.

 

[truetiger]

All of our units have quarters, so if the tones drop before shift change and you're relief isn't there, you get late tripped.

 

[DarkStarr]

Nothin. If your relief doesn't show up on time or relieve you on scene, you're it. We are a 1 truck service (ALS 24/7) with a second truck at times (usually BLS). Unspoken rule is if you get a call within a 1/2 hour of your shift, your relief will meet you on scene.

 

[Tigger]

We get sent back to base around an hour prior to EOS. Trucks coming up to the end will only get pulled to quick transfers (no more than 2 or 3 miles). If you're headed back and there's emergency you'll still get it but generally getting the return to quarters call means the day is over.

 

[adamjh3]

My company has a massive fear of paying any overtime to the point that it's illogical. They will hold calls for the oncoming crew if they think it will take you over EOW.

Granted, this is a non-911 service but I have had emergent runs where an extended ETA could have easily been detrimental to the patient

 

[DesertMedic66]

Nothing. I have had all my gear put away and the VST (person who washes and restocks the ambulance) was washing my ambulance and we get a call at 1858, our shift was supposed to end at 1900.

As long as you are still clocked into the system you can get a call.

If we are at status level 1 (only one ambulance in service for our 5,000 square mile response area) then we will get held over until the other units clear and become available. This happens alot.

In our work contract the company can mandatorily hold us over 2-4 hours (I cant remember if it's only 2 hours or the 4 hours). So with that we can be covering an area at 2000 and our off time was 1800 and they will still give us calls. If we refuse to take the call then we can be suspended and employment terminated.

Even on BLS where most of our calls are scheduled IFTs we get off up to 3 hours late every day.

The good thing in all this madness is that anything after 12 hours is double time pay.

 

[Aprz]

At my previous company, they were like Adamjh3, do everything they can to the point that they can be illogical. At my new company, I feel like they do nothing. I regularly get off shift 2-5 hours after I'm suppose to. I aint complaining though, I like double time. I think it's an issue they are working on resolving.

 

[DesertMedic66]

At my previous company, they were like Adamjh3, do everything they can to the point that they can be illogical. At my new company, I feel like they do nothing. I regularly get off shift 2-5 hours after I'm suppose to. I aint complaining though, I like double time. I think it's an issue they are working on resolving.

I would love it if my company would try to resolve it. I ask the supervisors about it and all they ever say is "it's not in the budget to add on extra BLS units".

 

[Tigger]

I would love it if my company would try to resolve it. I ask the supervisors about it and all they ever say is "it's not in the budget to add on extra BLS units".

My company used to be a lot smaller and we ran into similar problems as you are now, in the bay getting ready to head home and then getting a call with 5 minutes left. The problem was with the way the shifts were scheduled, there were too many times when there was only one truck on a time. As the company has grown we no longer have any EOS times where another crew has not been on for at least an hour.

Not that this helps you at all, just some commentary.

 

[Maine iac]

With an hour to go in my shift I tell dispatch that I am returning "downtown" (we do SSM), and with 30 minutes to go CAD adds 4 minutes to our response time. Most of the time this works well, but every now and then we'll get a late call.

If there is an oncoming crew they typically try to take it for the off going crew.

 

[NYMedic828]

All our units get a 15 minutes till end of shift flag in the system. Once that hits you can only get a job ranked priority 1-3 (we have 8 levels)

Usually people sit at the hospital with their lost job until the 15 minute mark, hit the button and head back to the station.

Problem is, every ALS job is a priority 1-3. So basically i get overtime to some degree every day.

 

[johnrsemt]

my old 911 fd it was if your relief was on station or not. If you got a run before the end of your shift you were on it til you got back to station.

IFT service didn't care: for awhile I was the 1000-1800 medic truck, with a medic that got off at 1900 and another one that got off at 2000. We came in at 0930 and was told that we were transporting from Indy to Chicago with a 1600 pickup in Indy. I asked why the later medics weren't doing it and was told that they refused, and then told if we refused we would be suspended.
My partner found a new job because of that day; and that was when I started looking for something better.

When I was night shift medic getting off at 0700 I would do 0655 runs because the 0600 medic wasn't in service yet. No one had to be in service by a certain time. I was always in service within 5 min of start of shift if I had a truck, because it was a point of pride with me; but it was annoying even so.
One day we were paged an emergency run, and paged with question of why we were not answering radio. I called and said that I didn't hear radio because I was in shower, at home, 2 hours before my shift was due to start. dispatch told me that we were activated in the computer so we were being written up for refusal to do the run.
I got to work an hour before shift started and started talking to everyone from dispatch supervisor on up to GM the write up didn't last long


That company could never figure out why we had such a high turnover rate.

 

[Aidey]

Nothing. We theoretically go EOS 30 minutes before the end of our shift, but most dispatchers could generally care less. Per the supervisor our status time is a guideline and as long as we are on the clock they can dispatch us to a call. We are also responsible for washing and restocking our own ambulances. It sucks, I very very rarely get off work on time. It is getting to be a big issue because it has gotten to the point that the crews who get off between 0630 and midnight get off late most of the time.

 

[Handsome Robb]

With an hour to EOS they try to cycle us out of the busier post and down to the quiet posts close to home and next to fuel spots. 25 minutes before EOS they clear us for home. We can get calls anytime, they try to only use outgoing units for priority traffic. Technically while we are in the garage finishing up we can be pulled for a call but then we'd have to check our monitor, radios, toughbook and gurney battery out again along with go through Pyxis and pull our narcs again. Yea needless to say, once you get back to the garage it's pretty rare to get pulled out, but it does happen.

 

[WolfmanHarris]

On my Platoon and District crews have worked out as a courtesy that we arrive 30 mins before shift end for relief. That tends to mitigate those last minute calls a bit.

As far as the Service goes they have a few things in place:
- At the official end of shift time you're considered out of service for anything other than a cardiac arrest that you're closest to, or a call you come across on the way back to the station. If assigned the cardiac arrest a second unit will be sent in case of transport. In the event of extremely low coverage or an ongoing MCI a Superintendent may instruct us to stay in service, but that's never happened to me. With a crew waiting to go they'd rather have you get back and switch.

- No non-emerg transfer will be assigned if it will incur OT. Emerg transfers will be assigned to the closest in service unit but Dispatch is to try and find a crew from the next shift to also respond and take it. (i.e. 0700-1900 crew assigned a stat transfer at 1830. They're assigned to respond but an 1800-0600 crew also gets sent to take over the transfer.)

- No lower priority emerg calls in last 30 minutes of the shift. Not usually a consideration for us with early relief but helps when you're trying to get back to base.

- Regardless of any of the above, we're legally limited to 16 hours of work before being considered totally out of service AND not available for the next day (must have eight hours between shifts).

The longest end of shift OT I've ever had was 3 hours, but that was working our most rural station (50 min transport time) and getting at call at 32 minutes until shift end. No one like end of shift OT, but at least just about everything possible is done where I work.

 

[the_negro_puppy]

Our dispatch tries to send us a "hotswap" if the job comes through within 30 mins of our finish time, where we arrive treat and the other crew transports (unless pt is transport crit.). Most of the time this doesnt happen as there's no spare units. They sometimes send crews to take over from our patient at hospital if there is bed block/ramping

 

[NomadicMedic]

We are posted at a station, and it's kind of an unwritten rule that the next crew coming in will arrive 30 minutes prior to the 0700 or 1900 shift change.

However, if you habitually arrived late, the oncoming crews will pay you back and not get there until a minute or two before the actual "official" shift change time. It behooves you to get there early, and not screw over your partners.

Today for example, my partner had to leave early. So, the guy that was coming in at 5 o'clock met us on scene and rode back in the truck with me while my partner took the new guy's car back to the station. We'll try to help each other out when we can. And management doesn't really care as long as the truck is staffed.

 

[fast65]

Nothing. Like some others, all of our units have their own quarters, so if you're relief doesn't want to show up early and you get a call, you're getting off late. Now, if you're pulling a 36 or a 12, and you're getting on at 1900, then it's typically good form to come in early if there's a transfer within an hour or so before shift change.

 

[DrParasite]

at the old 911 job, absolutely nothing. you have a 12 hour shift, and you are expected to answer every job from start of shift to end. You are not permitted to delay a job for shift change (written policy). units are assigned 1 truck for both day and night, so if they get hit with back to back to back jobs, they might get out 2 hours late, and the relief crew is chilling in quarters.

If you are in quarters, and the night crew is there, they can take the job, but if you are at the hospital and you get a job, than it's all yours, and you will be late.

At new 911 job, almost nothing. 12 hour power trucks can be given jobs up until their end of shift. 24 hour trucks (which also work 12 hr shifts) are treated the same way, but we try to get them back to station so the night crews can go in service. If your truck is a 24 hr, and the next shift is using your truck, then dispatch will try to get you back to quarters, but if they have life threatening calls holding, they might be a while.

Not for nothing, but if you work in a 911 system, don't expect to get out on time. If a calls comes in 5 minutes before your shift ends, oh well, that's the nature of the job. I have been stuck on jobs after my shift ended.

The only time it annoyed me was when my shift ended at 6pm, and we were at the hospital, and at 6:10pm we were sent to another town that we are contracted not to go to (since our town was contracted from 6a to 6p, dispatch said it was ok since our contract was over). that annoyed me, but oh well, it happens.

One agency I am aware of has a written policy that if your shift if 6a to 6pm than you were required to go on any calls up until 6pm. even if your relief was in quarters. apparently they have problems with some people coming in early and others not so, so management made a decree.

IFT is a little different, because it's a SCHEDULING issue. the dispatcher/scheduler needs to take into account crew shifts. again, emergency IFTs and emergency SCTU jobs aside, the person who schedules the runs shouldn't intentionally make you get out late. yes, stuff happens, people get delayed, but that's it. I used to dispatch IFTs, on the afternoon shift, and the morning guy would always leave me with a mess (4 runs scheduled within 15 minutes of each other, yes we only have 3 trucks available). crews would get pissed at me, but I had the mess dropped in my lap, I didn't cause it. a few discussions between me and the Assistant Director fixed the problem, and the morning person no long dispatches.

One thing I want to point out: if your base is located 30 minutes or an hour from where your coverage area is, don't expect to get 0 runs while you are on your way back. you are contracted for 12 hours (or however long your shifts are) to do a job, and while most dispatchers aren't looking to make you get out late, the job needs to get done.