How Many EMT's does your department have

[lyndonff]

I am the service director for a first responder unit, and we are thinking of upgrading our service to emt-basic non transport. i was wondering how many emt-basics your department has to make 24/7 coverage possible. im not talking members on your roster, but how many emts actually do the work to keep your service 24/7 compliant. I cant find a definate or estimate answer anywhere with the state, but was hoping everyone on here could help me get a rough number.

[mobey]

2 24hr ambulances.

8 f/t

4 casual

1 mangr

[PASSIN]

I am the service director for a first responder unit, and we are thinking of upgrading our service to emt-basic non transport. i was wondering how many emt-basics your department has to make 24/7 coverage possible. im not talking members on your roster, but how many emts actually do the work to keep your service 24/7 compliant. I cant find a definate or estimate answer anywhere with the state, but was hoping everyone on here could help me get a rough number.

If your trying to cover one unit. you will need at a minimum of (9) nine emt-b's. That will give you one unit on call 24/7 with the personal on duty 24 hrs. on 48 hrs. off. If you add a supervisor you'll have 10 personal. From that point on if you add another uint you'll add 9 emt-b's for each unit you need the field. Plus one supervisor/shift. Unless your talking about one man units. That would mean you only need (1) person per 24 hour shift. With one man units you may be able to use less supervisors.------Hear endeth the lesson. Passin.

[tskstorm]

We have roughly 30 Ambulances, we work 12 hour shifts, 3 days on 4 days off, we require at minimum 360 persons per week. Assuming no one works over time. For 1 Unit we need approximately 12 EMT's per week. Supervisors, operations, billing, payroll etc... not included.

[spenac]

To work a 48/96 1 ambulance requires 6 Paramedics. If you want to limit overtime you hire 2 part time Paramedics as well.

[lyndonff]

Thanks everyone for your responses. These numbers are exactly what i needed. Thanks again for your help.

[firemedic37]

My BLS Non-transporting Fire Department currently has (5) NREMT-B, (3)NREMT-I/98 and (3) NREMT-P/98. My ALS transporting ambulance has (6)EMT-Basics, (4) NREMT-I/85,(3)NREMT-I/99 and(5)NREMT-P/98. Both are rural volunteer services.

[fireflymedic]

If you work 24's you could have 3 basic emt's and 3 first responders if you choose to do it that way and your state allows it. If not, then it's a minimum of 9 emt's.

However, if you choose to work 12 hour shifts, 3 or four a week, you still will be roughly looking at the same amount. If a non transport service, are you even required to maintain a full crew? Could you just get by with 3 potentially (and PRN personnel to cover when not available). That is something you would need to get in touch with the state and ask if you are requesting 24 hour coverage. You don't specify what state you're in so that makes it a bit tougher as you have people all over the nation (and some international) and each state obviously has it's own rules. Take care and good luck !

[kristo]

Each position that has to be covered 24 hours a day means about 720 hours per month (30 x 24). A well-run business does not rely on overtime for day-to-day operations, so when calculating how many employees you need for that post, simply divide 720 with the number of hours that (in your area) constitute a full-time job without overtime.

Around here, a full-time job is 8 hours a day, five days a week. In an average month, you have 22 working days, so that's 176 hours (22 x 8).

This means that in my area, a post that has to be covered 24 hours a day needs 4.1 employee.

Now, in the real world, things aren't that simple. Employees take time off. They need their summer vacation (here that's at least 4 weeks paid vacation per year). There's holidays like Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, etc. There are maternity/paternity leaves (here that's 3 months per parent plus another 3 months the parents can divide between the two of them as they see fit). Then there are sick days (especially if the employees have young children). It's really hard to believe how much time employees do take off until you see it with your own eyes.

I would go by 5 employees per post. That should cover day-to-day operations, even with all the time off. Also, that may give you some elbow room for those extra shifts that always seem to come up. In some months, you may not strictly need five full-time employees per post, but I believe you will benefit from it in the long run. You'll avoid burn-out, be able to minimise employee turnover, and probably also, on a yearly basis, save money - it's expensive to have to pay overtime every time something comes up.

Edited December 27, 2009 by kristo

[EMT12]

My current agency has 6 full time ALS and 1 part time, with 6 full time BLS and 8 part time BLS with 1 ILS fmr employee whose basically a volunteer. We run 5 ambulances 24/7 with 2 crews on at all times, this is a combination of ALS and BLS crews.

We actually cover 5 small towns, with assistance from vol fire depts.

My former agency which was volunteer but had ALS ran 24/7 with a 3 person BLS, ILS, and ALS crew. They have 4 ambulances with 30 BLS, (All volunteer) 6 ILS (1 full time employee) and 6 ALS (4 Full time employees).

My former agency covers 4 small towns with assistance from vol fire depts.

This gets nerve wrecking because 1) the towns are not close (furthest is 40 miles) 2) we have to cover with a limited amount of resources, 3) volunteers and paid have advantages and disadvantages, which isn't always a for sure thing.

I think you pretty much have to decide if your gonna stay volunteer or go to paid, or a combination and then assess your coverage area, how many 24/7 crews do you need, (volunteer or paid) and budgeting, training, and equipment.

Edited March 23, 2011 by EMT12