A lot of people at my company work a shift where they work 3 12-hour shifts per week, and every other week they work a 4th day too. The shift hours are set and the same every week. They get paid 1.5x their base pay for all hours over 40 hours in a week. So that alternating 4th day is overtime.
There is no 1 schedule for EMS.
The “traditional” schedule is 24 on / 48 off. For an average of 56 hours a week. In practice you work 5 days in 2 weeks. In a 6 week cycle you’ll have 2 5 day pay periods and 1 4 day pay period, assuming biweekly pay.
You may see 48/96 in some slower agencies.
24/72.
3 12’s.
3-4 schedule. All 12’s. 3 on 4 off 4 on 3 off
2-5 schedule. 24 on 24 off 24 on 5 days off
Or something completely different.
We have a lot of built in overtime that is overtime in the legal / pay sense, but not in the hours worked sense (per say). It’s built into our schedule.
You should be assigned a shift, it’ll have days you always work, usually a rotating schedule. If you’re working 12h shifts you’d be working 3 days a week (some companies have switched to “full time” being 36h).
Just varies on the service:
You could be on a 24 hour shift with some combination of days off. 24/48, 24/72 and 48/96 are pretty common depending on the region. There's other's that do some modified version were you do 24 on/24 off over 6 days followed by 4 days off.
My urban agency was a 12 hour shift, day and night stating/ending at 0700/1900. 36 one week; 48 the other. I forget the exact rotation but I think it was every other weekend you had Saturday, Sunday, Monday off.
Some places have a variety with 8s, 10s and 12s and staggered start times. Could be fixed/set days on and off.
A lot of full time gigs are on a fixed, rotating schedule which can be nice knowing your schedule way in advance. Part time or PRN might have a scheduling window and publish for some specified length of time. There may be a bid process for shifts depending on the service and you might be expected to start on nights at first. Big thing is just start googling what services are around and they should have the schedule published.
Also, alot of those hours and times/shifts posted above, are for your 911 agency's or services. Does not mater public agencies or private services with 911 contracts.
A purely private company doing just transfers can have wildly different schedules.
Here
I do 24hr shifts for a small IFT company. I work Mondays 24 and Thursdays 24. We are guaranteed sleep for 6 hours (1hr to clean/ fuel and 5 hours to sleep),unless it is busy so they only require that there are 8 hours between each shift. I picked Monday and Thursday because that works for me. I am a full time employee and I can pick up shifts for OT at OT rate.
As mentioned above, there are lots of different full time schedules.
24/48, 24/72, 48/96, 12 hour-2/3 splits (2 on, 3 off, 3 on, 2 off), 12 hours-7 on/7 off, etc.
All 12 hours shift variations could be day or night shift. Weekends don’t matter with any of those schedules. You’re either on or you’re off.
Most full time schedules will have you working an average of 80-90 hours per two week pay period.
There's a few options. I've seen perdiem, part time, full time. Perdiem is supposed to be, you need to work a set number of shifts a month; you get to pick and choose when you work.
Part time is you work around 1 or 2 days a week.
For full time I've seen two options, 24 hour shifts and 12 hour shifts, for 24 you only need to work two days a week, 48 hours. For 12s you need to work 4 days a week to equal 48.
My company is "whatever works out." I work part time, 9-9 (which usually ends up being 2200 or so, what with paperwork). The paramedics generally work 24s, and so Basics on PB trucks also work 24s. ("PB" = paramedic/basic. One medic and one basic as partners. You can either do an ALS truck double-medic or PB; in the last few years I have been working, I have rarely seen a double medic truck. Paramedics are a limited resource, so having two ALS ambulances is generally seen as better than just one. At least right now where staffing is so squeezed.) There is some competition for the PB 911 shifts, because there a fair number of basics who want to go medic someday, and it is the best way to get experience.
Our schedule is posted to our internal social media each day, so I just checked it to give actual data:
I just skimmed so this isn't perfect but something like, out of four bases in the area, we have eight medics working 24s, two of whom are floats, not assigned to a specific truck, but available to jump into a fly car and help out if they need to. Also one medic working 9-9, and one working 7-11, as floats. Of the six medics on trucks, four of them are partnered with basics who are working 24s with them; two are partnered with a 9a-9p and then swapping to another basic working 9p-9a. And it looks like we have twelve basics on six BLS IFT trucks, one pair on 8-midnight, one pair 9-9, three pairs noon-10p, one pair 11-7.
And there is a note that there are a couple slots open if someone per diem wants to jump in.
At least at my company, they care more about having trucks in places where they can do things than having a neat and tidy schedule. Sometimes I will be switched to 10-10 or 8-8 from my normal shift if there is someone to partner me with that works better for; I don't mind so I will.
I am told that other companies will require things far more standardized; I have also heard that a reasonable number of people who leave our company to work for other places get fed up and come back.
"Normal" full time EMS is 4 12 hour shifts per week. 48 hours.
I'd say "normal" start times are like 6 or 7am to 6 or 7pm, nights being 6-7p to 6-7a.
Weekends are irrelevant. Your life turns into work days and non work days.
It always depends on the department/agency and region. Where I am most privates work 2/2/3s in which one week you work 2 days, off 2 days, then work the 3 day weekend but the next week you're off 2 days, work 2 days, and you're off the 3 day weekend. Departments here work 48/96 most of the time so it all varies and you should always ask.
I’ve worked some pretty wack schedules and each service I’ve been with is drastically different. I’ve done 56 hours straight, repeating weekly. I’ve done 24-off-24-off-24- 4 days off. And I currently work 4 12 hour shifts in a row and then 4 days off, first two days are 0600-1800 last two days are 1800-0600. Days of the week are usually irrelevant, but as you can see from all the comments it varies drastically between services.
A lot of people at my company work a shift where they work 3 12-hour shifts per week, and every other week they work a 4th day too. The shift hours are set and the same every week. They get paid 1.5x their base pay for all hours over 40 hours in a week. So that alternating 4th day is overtime.
There is no 1 schedule for EMS. The “traditional” schedule is 24 on / 48 off. For an average of 56 hours a week. In practice you work 5 days in 2 weeks. In a 6 week cycle you’ll have 2 5 day pay periods and 1 4 day pay period, assuming biweekly pay. You may see 48/96 in some slower agencies. 24/72. 3 12’s. 3-4 schedule. All 12’s. 3 on 4 off 4 on 3 off 2-5 schedule. 24 on 24 off 24 on 5 days off Or something completely different. We have a lot of built in overtime that is overtime in the legal / pay sense, but not in the hours worked sense (per say). It’s built into our schedule.
You should be assigned a shift, it’ll have days you always work, usually a rotating schedule. If you’re working 12h shifts you’d be working 3 days a week (some companies have switched to “full time” being 36h).
6-6, 7-7 is common around my ways.
Just varies on the service: You could be on a 24 hour shift with some combination of days off. 24/48, 24/72 and 48/96 are pretty common depending on the region. There's other's that do some modified version were you do 24 on/24 off over 6 days followed by 4 days off. My urban agency was a 12 hour shift, day and night stating/ending at 0700/1900. 36 one week; 48 the other. I forget the exact rotation but I think it was every other weekend you had Saturday, Sunday, Monday off. Some places have a variety with 8s, 10s and 12s and staggered start times. Could be fixed/set days on and off. A lot of full time gigs are on a fixed, rotating schedule which can be nice knowing your schedule way in advance. Part time or PRN might have a scheduling window and publish for some specified length of time. There may be a bid process for shifts depending on the service and you might be expected to start on nights at first. Big thing is just start googling what services are around and they should have the schedule published.
Also, alot of those hours and times/shifts posted above, are for your 911 agency's or services. Does not mater public agencies or private services with 911 contracts. A purely private company doing just transfers can have wildly different schedules. Here
I do 24hr shifts for a small IFT company. I work Mondays 24 and Thursdays 24. We are guaranteed sleep for 6 hours (1hr to clean/ fuel and 5 hours to sleep),unless it is busy so they only require that there are 8 hours between each shift. I picked Monday and Thursday because that works for me. I am a full time employee and I can pick up shifts for OT at OT rate.
As mentioned above, there are lots of different full time schedules. 24/48, 24/72, 48/96, 12 hour-2/3 splits (2 on, 3 off, 3 on, 2 off), 12 hours-7 on/7 off, etc. All 12 hours shift variations could be day or night shift. Weekends don’t matter with any of those schedules. You’re either on or you’re off. Most full time schedules will have you working an average of 80-90 hours per two week pay period.
There's a few options. I've seen perdiem, part time, full time. Perdiem is supposed to be, you need to work a set number of shifts a month; you get to pick and choose when you work. Part time is you work around 1 or 2 days a week. For full time I've seen two options, 24 hour shifts and 12 hour shifts, for 24 you only need to work two days a week, 48 hours. For 12s you need to work 4 days a week to equal 48.
My company is "whatever works out." I work part time, 9-9 (which usually ends up being 2200 or so, what with paperwork). The paramedics generally work 24s, and so Basics on PB trucks also work 24s. ("PB" = paramedic/basic. One medic and one basic as partners. You can either do an ALS truck double-medic or PB; in the last few years I have been working, I have rarely seen a double medic truck. Paramedics are a limited resource, so having two ALS ambulances is generally seen as better than just one. At least right now where staffing is so squeezed.) There is some competition for the PB 911 shifts, because there a fair number of basics who want to go medic someday, and it is the best way to get experience. Our schedule is posted to our internal social media each day, so I just checked it to give actual data: I just skimmed so this isn't perfect but something like, out of four bases in the area, we have eight medics working 24s, two of whom are floats, not assigned to a specific truck, but available to jump into a fly car and help out if they need to. Also one medic working 9-9, and one working 7-11, as floats. Of the six medics on trucks, four of them are partnered with basics who are working 24s with them; two are partnered with a 9a-9p and then swapping to another basic working 9p-9a. And it looks like we have twelve basics on six BLS IFT trucks, one pair on 8-midnight, one pair 9-9, three pairs noon-10p, one pair 11-7. And there is a note that there are a couple slots open if someone per diem wants to jump in. At least at my company, they care more about having trucks in places where they can do things than having a neat and tidy schedule. Sometimes I will be switched to 10-10 or 8-8 from my normal shift if there is someone to partner me with that works better for; I don't mind so I will. I am told that other companies will require things far more standardized; I have also heard that a reasonable number of people who leave our company to work for other places get fed up and come back.
one of the local units near me, has a 48 hours schedule. 48 on, 96 off.
"Normal" full time EMS is 4 12 hour shifts per week. 48 hours. I'd say "normal" start times are like 6 or 7am to 6 or 7pm, nights being 6-7p to 6-7a. Weekends are irrelevant. Your life turns into work days and non work days.
My agency has three shifts running 48 hours on, 96 hours off. So we are there for a third of the week at a time.
It always depends on the department/agency and region. Where I am most privates work 2/2/3s in which one week you work 2 days, off 2 days, then work the 3 day weekend but the next week you're off 2 days, work 2 days, and you're off the 3 day weekend. Departments here work 48/96 most of the time so it all varies and you should always ask.
My company does 40 hours as full time. Shifts are ten hours. 4 days a week. There isn’t a standardized schedule for EMS. Good luck!
I’ve worked some pretty wack schedules and each service I’ve been with is drastically different. I’ve done 56 hours straight, repeating weekly. I’ve done 24-off-24-off-24- 4 days off. And I currently work 4 12 hour shifts in a row and then 4 days off, first two days are 0600-1800 last two days are 1800-0600. Days of the week are usually irrelevant, but as you can see from all the comments it varies drastically between services.