down time

[EMS49393]

What's downtime? We rarely get enough time to use the bathroom, let alone have extended time to goof off. As for run reports, in an ideal world they'd all be done before we get our next call, however that's pretty tough when you've got dispatchers telling you to throw your patient off the cot, "We've got emergency calls holding, and no cars available!!"

[buckeyedoc]

First, look before you leap. Don't get too excited about down time until you know for sure you will actually have some! Do you know where you will be working? Some places have no down time. They have you driving around the city constantly, with no station to rest at, so you're stuck in the ambo for up to 12 hours at a time. That pretty well limits you to reading, listening to music, playing catch, Frisbee, or cards, sleeping, or eating. You get ambulance ass pretty quickly doing that.

But regardless of whether or not you have down time and a place to spend it or not, if you are new to the field, you need to be spending that time studying because you didn't learn a thing in EMT school. Don't worry about whether or not it's embarrassing to study in front of your partner. There is no shame in admitting you are new and just a basic. The shame is in doing nothing about it.

But yeah, not all ambo jobs are created equal, so make sure you know what the shifts are like before you take the first job offer you get. Because most of them aren't like Turd Watch where you sit on your ass in a station for most of the shift. In fact, they don't even do that in NYC.

Good luck!

That about sums it up.

Doc

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