Busiest service in the States

[HERBIE1]

I am looking into a Philly Fire Service Medic position and have been told by many to STAY away because they run so many calls with so few ambulances. I wanted to find out the actual UHU, which I did in a City Controllers report, stating the average was up to .80, some over 100 (as previously posted). I want to see how other departments compare, to see if Philly FD actually does have a much higher calls to units ratio.

And why is the standard .42?

I honestly don't know our UHU stats, but if you are new and want to learn the job, you want volume. No other way around it. In a busy urban system, you can see more in a week than some folks see in an entire career. Obviously, after a certain amount of time in the business, your brain and body tell you it's time to slow down a bit. Ideally you want a situation where you can transfer to a slower spot after you put some time on the job so you can save some sanity and body function.

I would also look into the other factors- I know the Phily system has some serious issues you may want to consider. Working conditions, assistance, training, equipment, system policies/procedures, working relationship with other groups and the city, benefits, pension/401K issues, job security. Lots of things to consider-

Good luck.

[Mateo_1387]

Excellent point. Its just like the "save" stats. There are so many variables that are involved that none are accurate. This leads to some services claiming some large percentages but when you break it down they are no better if not worse than other services.

The large percentages are used to allocate funding and judging the EMS system's effectiveness, which is utter bull. So many services base the quality of their system on a very small percentage of calls (save rates). Better statistics to figure out the effectiveness of an EMS system would be to look at what interventions are performed by EMS that save money for the overall healthcare system (EMS + hospital + specialty resources) and provides a good outcome for patient (example. Using CPAP to treat pulmonary edema possibly preventing ICU stays).