What kind of shift do you like to work?...

Busy or dead or a combo of both?


  • Total voters
    34

emtfarva

Forum Captain
413
2
0
Between my partner and myself this discussion has come up lately. Do you like busy or dead shifts? Now I work on an Als transfer truck and sometimes we are busy doing local D/C's other times we do long runs to Boston. We had a very Busy shift on Friday, yet the day still just dragged by. We work a 10 hour day from 11:00 to 21:00. By 18:00 we had done 5 calls and we were dispatched to 6th taking us to Boston. Now you are going to say that 5 calls are not that many, but to us that was a lot. We average 4 calls a day. Mostly Bls calls but Friday was all Bls until the last. It made us late by about 1 hour. (we had to stop for food before the last call or else we would need another truck for us. We were getting hypoglycemic.) Now, also we have a pretty large service area that covers most of the south coast of Mass. So sometimes we will do a short call at one Hosp and then we will have to drive about 30 mins to our next call. When we have dead days we are bored out of minds. I was just wondering what type of shifts you guys like to work. Also we don't really see quarters until the end of the shift so we are sitting in the truck most of the day. How about you all, do you post or sit at quarters and wait for the next call? :wacko:
 

lightsandsirens5

Forum Deputy Chief
3,970
19
38
Well I'm a volunteer so, hey, if I'm going to be sitting at our shack for 12 hours then I'd rather go all out the whole time. Never works that way though. I'm thinking of taking a ney job. I go sit around at our station all day and everyone in the county pays me a dollar each day. Should work, all I have to do is convince people that when I'm on duty, nothing ever happens to nobody!^_^
 

marineman

Forum Asst. Chief
921
1
0
Busy and slow are not very descriptive terms and different people have different ideas of each. One service I work at a slow day is 16 calls in a 24 hour shift. Another service I work for busy is 2 calls in a 24 hour shift. The service I do ride alongs with is right in the middle and average is 6-7 calls in a 24 hour shift.

My preference is to run hard all day and sleep all night but that rarely happens. I like the days where we run 6-7 calls during the day and 1 or 2 calls after 22:00. Enough down time to finish paperwork and relax a little but not so slow that you get stir crazy.
 
OP
OP
emtfarva

emtfarva

Forum Captain
413
2
0
We have a couple of 911 trucks that pretty much don't do anything. and then again our brockton crews can pump out 13-14 calls before midnight on a 24 hour shift. our bls crews on 12s can pump 6-8 calls.
 

medic_chick87

Forum Crew Member
41
0
0
I personally love a busy shift. I get bored to easily. For example: worked 24's on my internship. Averaged 12-15 calls a shift, most of them during the first 12 with a given call at about 2:00 or 3:00am. I loved it. Even with the call volume I still managed to get at least 5hrs of sleep at night. Then on first payed job worked 12's and depending on the rig we would run maybe 2 calls or up to 8. Went Crazy on the slow shifts, but 8 was just about perfect (still had room for a good nap ^_^)
 

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
12,098
6,845
113
I work 10s and some days days we won't turn a wheel...other days it's non stop.

I like days when it's mostly quiet (shhhh... I said the "Q" word) that way I can spread out my books and study.
 

Buzz

Forum Captain
295
16
0
Too many subjective words in this question...

A super "busy" shift for me consists of 6 calls over a 12 hour period, but I work nights. On average, I'll do 3 or 4.

Ask someone on the normal day shift, and it's slightly different. Super busy would be 8-10 calls.

That said, I prefer the average nights I have... but call spacing is critical for maximum enjoyment of the shift. My ideal shift consists of two calls right off the bat, then nothing until 3 or 4 hours before quitting time.

The "dead" nights suck. I trick myself into thinking the probability of getting a call increases for every minute that we do not get one. Every time a unit gets radioed out, I just about jump up ready to go only to realize it was for someone else.
 

imurphy

Forum Captain
362
0
16
We have a couple of 911 trucks that pretty much don't do anything. and then again our brockton crews can pump out 13-14 calls before midnight on a 24 hour shift. our bls crews on 12s can pump 6-8 calls.

That would be cause it's Brockton!!


I dont mind what shift I have really!
 

medicdan

Forum Deputy Chief
Premium Member
2,494
19
38
I have certainly had 13-15 call days on a 13 hour shift. Granted some or many of these calls were transports or 0.3 miles, but it still meant 13 sets of paperwork, 13 patient transfers, and fuel/wash time... I cant stand that. On the other hand, I cant stand coming in, and sitting at the garage all shift.

I work for a very busy private company-- so 6-8 calls on a 10 hour shift is a normal day for us. I guess this is all relative...
 
OP
OP
emtfarva

emtfarva

Forum Captain
413
2
0
I have certainly had 13-15 call days on a 13 hour shift. Granted some or many of these calls were transports or 0.3 miles, but it still meant 13 sets of paperwork, 13 patient transfers, and fuel/wash time... I cant stand that. On the other hand, I cant stand coming in, and sitting at the garage all shift.

I work for a very busy private company-- so 6-8 calls on a 10 hour shift is a normal day for us. I guess this is all relative...

I guess it isn't as bad as WEMS*, they get to the ER and already have a call waiting for them. :wacko:

*Woschester EMS*
 

TransportJockey

Forum Chief
8,623
1,675
113
I like to be decently busy, but still have a chance to get something to eat during shift. So about 9 calls in a 12 hour shift
 

RESQ_5_1

Forum Lieutenant
226
2
0
I work 10.5 hour days. 7 am to 5:30 pm. Mon-Thurs. We are what is known as the "Peak car". Or, as everyone else calls it, the transfer car. We occasionally have days that net us 3-4 hours of OT and we won't see the station until the very end. Other days (like today), we won't even get in the rig except for unit checks. I prefer somewhere in the middle. But, since we work in a very rural area, the calls are few and far between. People prefer to drive themselves or their family member to the hospital. Even tho ambulance service up here doesn't cost anywhere near what it does in the States.

We actually transferred a guy with a broken ankle for a surgical consult who drove himself (with a fractured right ankle) to the hospital.
 

tydek07

Forum Captain
462
12
18
I prefer it to be steady... not too busy and not too slow :D

Just enough calls to keep the day going along at a decent pace.
 

mikeN

Forum Lieutenant
173
0
0
I like my 8am to midnight shifts. I don't care if it's busy during the day but I would prefer a slow night after 8pm.
 
Top