Scheduling

[parafire81]

Any input anyone could offer would be helpful...

Here is my quandery. The service I work for (hospital based ALS 911) currently works 12 hour shifts. Shift change is at 6am and 6pm. In addition, our coordinators (basically middle management) work 8am-4pm and cover second up call from home from 6-8am and 4-6pm. So there are two ambulances staffed and ready to roll during the day with a 3rd crew available for call in from home. At night we drop to one crew on duty and two crews from home. (Call-in crews are called in sequentially as rigs go out)...a 10 minute or less response time is required when on call.

We recently changed the night shift pattern to allow for more days off in between shifts. Basically we work 3 12's in a row, then have 4 days off. For whatever reason, our director thinks that nights and days need to rotate to each other's shift twice a year. So effective next month we are going to start doing this. I am concerned that this rotation could potentially have a negative impact on health and safety for both sides.

So my question is this. Does anyone out there have similar rotation patterns and how do they work. I would like to try and come up with something better than what we have that makes it so we do not have to eat, sleep and breathe EMS. Keep in mind any new schedule change must be budget neutral.

[DaSharkie]

Where I work part-time (used to be full-time) we worked 12 hour shifts that went like this:

4 nights, 72 hours off, 3 days, 44 hours off (plus a 4 hour con-ed session), 3 nights, 72 hours off, 4 days on, 7 days off. The cycle rotates with 4 shifts.

Switching from days to nights can be a bear, especially as you get older and it takes a good 2 or 3 months to really get used to it.

And constantly alternating shifts can throw off the body's natural circadian rhythms as well causing a whole host of other issues.

It is good in a great respect that it makes assignments and shif bidding easier because you have no day shift or night shift assigned personnel and everyone works the same schedule equally.

[Scotttt]

2 services i know (philly fire/rescue & New castle county, DE) do 2 10 hour days followed by 2 14 hour nights. and then is followed by 4 days off. Definantly one of the worst schedule patterns i know of. ill get a taste of it next month when i ride w/ the philadelphia FD.

[medc700]

Salem Fire Department in Virginia has a wierd but good schedule they work 12 hour shifts and have a 4 platoon rotating shift. The shift works every shift within a month period. Each shift works the same rotating shift it goes something like this.

Work Monday -Thursday 6a-6p
7 days off
Work Thursday-Sunday 6p-6a
4 days off
work Friday-Sunday 6a-6p
work Monday-wednesday 6p-6a
4days off
Start over with daylight shift again.


The firefighters with Salem love this schedule and there administration are threatning of going to 24 hour shifts and they are scared that they will lose there 7 day breaks. I worked this shift for two years and I loved the 7 day breaks.


With that shift you work 7 6a-6p shifts and 7 6p-6a shifts a month. I think this is the best schedule in the world.

Hope this could help you some.

Seth

[hageremtp]

The place where I took my medic training worked 12's, days and nights. They worked 4 on, 4 off. Paid OT at anything over 40 hours and rotated from days to nights and back to days every three months. The employees there liked it and I didnt mind it riding for the 9 months I was there.

[183squad1]

Nobody likes the switching of nights and days so fast. I once worked where the shifts were 12 hours 4 days from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. This was covered with four shifts. For six weeks you worked the day shift 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. for 4 days at a time and had 4 days off and then for the next six weeks you worked the night shift 7 p.m. - 7 a.m. for 4 days and had 4 days off. There were a few weeks when you worked 3 days and had five off and a few when you worked 5 and had 3 off. This kept it so that you had a short week 36 hours and a long week 40 hours plus 8 OT. It also worked out so that you had 4 weekends in a row off and then worked 4 weekends in a row. It is kind of weird but was better to adjust to sleeping patterns by not having to go days to nights so fast.