Who's "on call?"

[Acosell]

It varies. We average 2 calls a day under normal circumstances, but my town is an evacuation center, so our population has a tendancy to double. The population spur wouldn't be such a problem, but the evacuees often get quite... rowdy... Especially if they come from a "Dry" area where alcohol is banned, and then get their hands on some when they get to our town. Drugs and violence are also problems with evacuees. Call volumes can triple, quadruple, or more.

[akroeze]

Refresh me Acosell, where do you work again?

[urEMT]

im on call for 48 hours

[streetsmart]

This question is for members of paid services. Does your service rely on "on call" personnel? Secondly, if so how does your "on call" program work? And lastly, what are your opinions on your system/or using "on call" personnel in general? I've seen a few different models and I'm just curious what else is out there and how common it is. Virtually every service in my area has some type of "on call" program in effect. And each has a different way of handling it.

The service I work for in Missouri requires all of us to pull 24 hours first out duty and 24 hours 2nd out duty (call) each week. For both shifts we are paid 18 hours minimum and the full 24 if we don't get 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep between midnight and 5:00 a.m (sleep time). We get the six additional hours on both shifts even if the phone rings whether we are actually called out or not.

On our 2nd out day (call Shift) we have to be available within 15 minutes and only have to report in if the 1st out crew is called out. If you are fortunate enough to live in the town our base is located in, you can stay at home on your 2nd shift day.

Actually it is a pretty nice work schedule.

[TechMedic05]

The service I work for in Missouri requires all of us to pull 24 hours first out duty and 24 hours 2nd out duty (call) each week. For both shifts we are paid 18 hours minimum and the full 24 if we don't get 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep between midnight and 5:00 a.m (sleep time). We get the six additional hours on both shifts even if the phone rings whether we are actually called out or not.

On our 2nd out day (call Shift) we have to be available within 15 minutes and only have to report in if the 1st out crew is called out. If you are fortunate enough to live in the town our base is located in, you can stay at home on your 2nd shift day.

Actually it is a pretty nice work schedule.

That doesn't seem too terrible. Is your 'on call' time too? [i see 18 hours, but is it the same rate?]

[Beagle189]

My service doesn't do an "on call" for emergencies, we have 5 ambulances on duty at night and if they are all on calls the dispatch center tones an "All Call" tone on our pagers and requests "call backs". If you come in on one of those you start Overtime pay.

We only use "On Call Status" for Long Distance non-emergency transfers (over 2 hr one way leg of trip)- where an employee must sign up on a list. If you sign up you must be with in 15 minutes of our main station. If you go on a Long Distance transfer you get overtime plus, which equals out to be triple time.

[JakeEMTP]

The service I work at doesn't have "on call". We work 24 hr shifts 07:00am to 07:00 am with 2 crews. Mutual aide is available if the need arises. When I'm off duty, I'm off. No pager, no cell phone calls. That being said, I have been on call for the transport division. $2.50 per hour and if you get called out it is your regular rate, plus the $2.50. I don't make a habit of it, only when they are extremely short of folks.

[weasel 108]

Where I work ,we have no "oncall crews". I work 3 on and 4 off, 12 hr shifts. the shifts are all "inhouse".

[Star09]

I work 24 hour on-call for six days straight, followed by three days off. During the six days we are required to be at our office for four consecutive hours per day. After that we are allowed to be where we like, provided that it is within five minutes of the amb.bay.

[streetsmart]

That doesn't seem too terrible. Is your 'on call' time too? [i see 18 hours, but is it the same rate?]

Yes, we are paid our normal hourly wage for both 1st out and 2nd out (call) shifts.