How many people are you responsible for while on duty?

[BEorP]

I recently came across this article about ambulance response times in Toronto. The main line that interested me was that, "During peak hours one paramedic is responsible for 4094 residents."

I compared the county where I work to Toronto and found that based on my calculation, each paramedic is responsible for approximately 5000 people here. (With a much larger geographic area than Toronto this would lead to questions about possible abuse of the EMS system in Toronto, but that would be a whole other thread.)

In your system, how many people are you responsible for while on duty? Take the population of your coverage area and divide by the number of EMS providers on shift during peak hours. I would include supervisors if they are typically available to do first response or assist with calls. This calculation may become difficult to compare with the different setups of EMS systems (e.g. fire medics) but it will still be interesting to compare numbers.

[triemal04]

I'd suggest that you only count personnel on transport capable units; first responders are fine, but the goal still is to get them care in the field AND get them to a hospital, as appropriate. An even better way would be to ask how many people is EACH transporting unit caring for? After all, it doesn't matter if there are 2 paramedics or 1 on the unit; when it's on a call, it's on that call and unavailable for more until they clear.

For only transporting personnel, about 7400.

For all personnel on shift, about 3200.

For just transport capable units, 13000-17000 (reserve which is not normally run, but capable of being used without any delay)

[firedoc5]

Well, let's see. When I was on the Fire Dept., usually have one guy off on a vacation day, and one off on a personal day. Using that formula...Just shy of 20,000.

[akroeze]

Where I am doing my ALS placement we are the only truck in the community of 20,908

One of our neighbouring communities on weeknights only has one truck on. When they go out we sit halfway between the two and are covering off more like 52,811

[Ridryder 911]

Hmm.. sometimes about 48,000 people and 1200 square miles...

R/r 911

[bigj1130]

Not counting the sixth street population on friday or saturday. 1 transport paramedic per 25000 residents. That means one ambulance responsible for 50000 people. We have 30 ambulances up at any given time for a population of 1.5 million in 1150 square miles.

[CBEMT]

Full-time job: daytime, weekday when class is in session... 15,000 give or take.

Part time: 10,000, minus however many work out of town.

Basically everyone, because at both jobs I am the only staffed ambulance for that population.

[EMS49393]

Three. Myself, my partner, and my patient. Occasionally I'm responsible for two to four patients during transport, however that is rare. Sorry, I didn't quite agree with other responses.

I can only do one call at a time. I'm not responsible for any other patient, call, or event that is occurring while I'm already involved in a call. I am responsible for making sure the mystery meat EMT I'm stuck with doesn't do something stupid. I am responsible for making sure I stay alive and unhurt. I am not responsible for any fire department personnel. I used to worry about them getting injured during a call, however, they are going to do what they want to do regardless of how unsafe I feel they are when they execute their ideas. Therefore, I gave up feeling responsible for them, after all, they have their own captain to babysit them.

Now, if you're wondering how many people are in my service area, the answer would be roughly 500,000, give or take daily births and deaths.

Guinness,

K.

[akroeze]

Three. Myself, my partner, and my patient. Occasionally I'm responsible for two to four patients during transport, however that is rare. Sorry, I didn't quite agree with other responses.

I can only do one call at a time. I'm not responsible for any other patient, call, or event that is occurring while I'm already involved in a call. I am responsible for making sure the mystery meat EMT I'm stuck with doesn't do something stupid. I am responsible for making sure I stay alive and unhurt. I am not responsible for any fire department personnel. I used to worry about them getting injured during a call, however, they are going to do what they want to do regardless of how unsafe I feel they are when they execute their ideas. Therefore, I gave up feeling responsible for them, after all, they have their own captain to babysit them.

Now, if you're wondering how many people are in my service area, the answer would be roughly 500,000, give or take daily births and deaths.

Guinness,

K.

*runs up and steals your soapbox*

[BEorP]

EMS49393, thanks for posting but you didn't even answer the question. Everyone else in the thread seems to have understood the meaning of "responsible for" in this context.