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Do paramedics regularly go without any lunch break on a 12 hour shift to eat?

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    #2
    sjb25
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭sjb25


    boa2507 wrote: »
    Currently do paramedics regularly go without any lunch break on a 12 hour shift to eat or what are the rules/ arrangements for eating if any

    http://www.thejournal.ie/paramedics-lunch-hours-draconian-3695836-Nov2017/

    Eat wherever you can whatever you can as fast as you can :)
    I have went 12 hour shifts without a break a few times maybe 5-10min in 12 hours on many many occasions we don't currently have designed meal breaks at present


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    #3
    ectoraige
    Registered Users Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭ectoraige


    You can eat when you don't have a patient. If you keep getting patients you don't eat. Sometimes they'll eat at the hospital immediately after handing over a patient, perhaps occasionally they'll forget to mark themselves as available until they've finished eating, especially if they've had back-to-back calls. There hasn't been an entitlement to uninterrupted breaks.


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    #4
    boa2507
    Registered Users Posts: 49 ✭boa2507


    That's terrible . Paramedics arent robots. Does this lead to a lot of paramedics burning out. 12 hours shifts are long enough (if you lucky to finish in that 12 hours). Reheating a dinner in a microwave would be a stretch so? What sort of food could you eat that isnt junk food or McDonalds?


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    #5
    Schindlers Pissed
    Registered Users Posts: 221 ✭✭Schindlers Pissed


    You get to know which service stations are good and which are bad.....even when I'm off duty and go for a meal with my wife it's like this....

    Get a table.

    Straight for the main course.

    Eat like a lunatic.

    Leave.


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    #6
    sjb25
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭sjb25


    Schindlers Pissed wrote: »
    You get to know which service stations are good and which are bad.....even when I'm off duty and go for a meal with my wife it's like this....

    Get a table.

    Straight for the main course.

    Eat like a lunatic.

    Leave.

    I'm only in the service 3 years now and herself only said to me the other day "you eat so fast lately"
    :)
    That and hearing the tetra tone all the time ;)


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    #7
    ectoraige
    Registered Users Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭ectoraige


    sjb25 wrote: »
    That and hearing the tetra tone all the time ;)

    99% coverage my arse.


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    #8
    AmboMan
    Registered Users Posts: 126 ✭✭AmboMan


    ectoraige wrote: »
    99% coverage my arse.

    I turn mine on at the beginning of shift, first time the no signal alarm activates I turn it off for the rest of that shift. Some days it gets turned off before I leave the station, it’s to dangerous & distracting to listen to the alarm.


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    #9
    NASlad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭NASlad


    AmboMan wrote: »
    I turn mine on at the beginning of shift, first time the no signal alarm activates I turn it off for the rest of that shift. Some days it gets turned off before I leave the station, it’s to dangerous & distracting to listen to the alarm.

    Jesus it's not THAT bad. Stick her on DMO mode for 5 minutes.


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    #10
    AmboMan
    Registered Users Posts: 126 ✭✭AmboMan


    NASlad wrote: »
    Jesus it's not THAT bad. Stick her on DMO mode for 5 minutes.

    It is that bad ! Don’t know what DMO is, doubt it would fix anything as I’ve been given a few new handhelds and their all the same. I know how to turn it on and off, remove the battery and send a speech request. Someone with a brain obviously configured the Garda radios as they have the alarm disabled. Anyhow makes it easier to have your break if your not contactable.


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    #11
    NASlad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭NASlad


    AmboMan wrote: »
    It is that bad ! Don’t know what DMO is, doubt it would fix anything as I’ve been given a few new handhelds and their all the same. I know how to turn it on and off, remove the battery and send a speech request. Someone with a brain obviously configured the Garda radios as they have the alarm disabled. Anyhow makes it easier to have your break if your not contactable.

    I just turn it town when it beeps. Even in the deep mountain bogs the radio might only beep for a bit which is easily ignored when turned down.

    Anyway. Press and hold 2 to change it to DMO mode. It won't beep at all but control wont be able to contact you. Press 1 to go back to normal (TMO) mode.
    Only really use it when waiting in ED as there's never signal there.


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    #12
    AmboMan
    Registered Users Posts: 126 ✭✭AmboMan


    NASlad wrote: »
    I just turn it town when it beeps. Even in the deep mountain bogs the radio might only beep for a bit which is easily ignored when turned down.

    Anyway. Press and hold 2 to change it to DMO mode. It won't beep at all but control wont be able to contact you. Press 1 to go back to normal (TMO) mode.
    Only really use it when waiting in ED as there's never signal there.
    If I were to leave mine on it would beep in the station, enroute to calls, assessing patients, calculating drugs, handing over patients etc
    As soon as mine beeps it’s off, I’ve called for other services by dialling 999 on my phone a lot easier and more reliable.


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    #13
    Schindlers Pissed
    Registered Users Posts: 221 ✭✭Schindlers Pissed


    AmboMan wrote: »
    If I were to leave mine on it would beep in the station, enroute to calls, assessing patients, calculating drugs, handing over patients etc
    As soon as mine beeps it’s off, I’ve called for other services by dialling 999 on my phone a lot easier and more reliable.

    So you turn it off for the rest of the shift? How does that work when they try to contact you? Did anyone ever ask why you are offline?


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    #14
    AmboMan
    Registered Users Posts: 126 ✭✭AmboMan


    Schindlers Pissed wrote: »
    So you turn it off for the rest of the shift? How does that work when they try to contact you? Did anyone ever ask why you are offline?

    Yes I turn it off for the rest of the shift, I’m not contactable via the handheld, yes control, ambulance officers ask why it’s off.


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    #15
    NASlad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭NASlad


    Bit strange but it there's a lot of that in the ambo service i suppose.


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    #16
    Titanucd
    Registered Users Posts: 132 ✭✭Titanucd


    AmboMan wrote: »
    Yes I turn it off for the rest of the shift, I’m not contactable via the handheld, yes control, ambulance officers ask why it’s off.

    Presume your partners handheld works ok?

    Not a major issue as long as one of you is contactable.

    That said I hope you dont need to use the 'man down' button one day and youve no handheld!


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    #17
    flazio
    Registered Users Posts: 12,830 ✭✭✭✭flazio


    Ok, concerned citizen here. Please tell me how you are tasked to emergencies if you have your radio off?


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    #18
    NASlad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭NASlad


    flazio wrote: »
    Ok, concerned citizen here. Please tell me how you are tasked to emergencies if you have your radio off?

    If they get to you by handheld or vehicle radio then they'll ring your personal phone.


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    #19
    Schindlers Pissed
    Registered Users Posts: 221 ✭✭Schindlers Pissed


    Or maybe you could just do your job properly and leave your radio on. You know, like your supposed to.....


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    #20
    AmboMan
    Registered Users Posts: 126 ✭✭AmboMan


    flazio wrote: »
    Ok, concerned citizen here. Please tell me how you are tasked to emergencies if you have your radio off?

    We can be contacted via station radio, ambulance radio, landlines or mobile phone. The tetra radios are slow to use and unreliable.


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    #21
    AmboMan
    Registered Users Posts: 126 ✭✭AmboMan


    Schindlers Pissed wrote: »
    Or maybe you could just do your job properly and leave your radio on. You know, like your supposed to.....

    I’m not supposed to use substandard unreliable equipment that poses a danger to myself and patients.


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    #22
    easygoing1982
    Registered Users Posts: 341 ✭✭easygoing1982


    AmboMan wrote: »
    I’m not supposed to use substandard unreliable equipment that poses a danger to myself and patients.

    Genuine question. Are the tetra sets substandard/unreliable?


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    #23
    ectoraige
    Registered Users Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭ectoraige


    easygoing1982 wrote: »
    Genuine question. Are the tetra sets substandard/unreliable?

    There's nothing wrong with the handsets themselves, but there are coverage issues with the TETRA Ireland network. It is supposed to provide 98% geographic coverage, and 99% population coverage. The handsets emit a warning tone when they are out of coverage from the network. This is a safety feature to ensure that their operator is aware that they are not presently contactable, and cannot contact base if they need to.

    It mostly happens on rural back-roads, but sometimes within buildings such as large factories, or in basements. The other thing that can happen is while transiting between far-apart cells at speed it can drop coverage for a moment if not on an active call, which will again generating the warning tone.

    The tones are annoying, so that you won't miss them, and as a result it makes it seem worse than it really is. Usually the handsets re-register within seconds, on a normal mobile you wouldn't realise you were out of coverage, but with TETRA you do.

    The great thing with the handsets is that you can turn them down so they aren't blasting your ear off. To call it a safety issue is the type of rubbish that leads to actual safety issues being overlooked. For a paramedic to be unable to cope with expected noises is a bit rich, if you ask me. Suck it up, buttercup, as they say.

    I should add though that the ambulance mounted radios are more powerful so it would be rarer for them to be out of coverage, so turning off the personal handset while in the ambulance isn't going to put you out of contact. However, it's not good practice as it would be very easy to forget to turn the unit back on again when leaving the ambulance.


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    #24
    gctest50
    Registered Users Posts: 9,605 ✭✭✭gctest50


    ectoraige wrote: »
    .................. The handsets emit a warning tone when they are out of coverage from the network.
    .................

    on a normal mobile you wouldn't realise you were out of coverage, but with TETRA you do.............


    app for dat :

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartandroidapps.missedcall


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    #25
    Schindlers Pissed
    Registered Users Posts: 221 ✭✭Schindlers Pissed


    Well said @ectoraig. The problem with turning off the handset is you might forget to turn it back on again. You can also put it into a silent mode but the same issue may occur.

    Personally I think that the comment about turning off your radio as soon as it beeps is a bit rich.....and leaving it off for the rest of the shift.....that's both dangerous to the staff member and negligent to the public. I reckon Tetra isn't the problem, it's probably a chip on his/her shoulder that's the real issue.


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    #26
    flazio
    Registered Users Posts: 12,830 ✭✭✭✭flazio


    Don't suppose they vibrate like phones do they?


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    #27
    Schindlers Pissed
    Registered Users Posts: 221 ✭✭Schindlers Pissed


    No, they don't vibrate.


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    #28
    NASlad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭NASlad


    Mine does.


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    #29
    sjb25
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭sjb25


    Schindlers Pissed wrote: »
    No, they don't vibrate.

    Some do I was working with someone and it did! I spent ages looking trough the menu but couldnt work it out and didn't want to break it :(


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    #30
    searescue
    Registered Users Posts: 289 ✭✭searescue


    Older ones with grey and black front and that have the black and white screen don't and aren't as friendly with receiving calls for the new MDT system.

    The newer ones that are all black and have a coloured screen do and are friendly with the callout for MDT.

    Mine only goes off when I'm in A&E, so I just leave it in the ambulance when I go in as there is no coverage and then I clip it back on when I go out - simples.


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    #31
    arybvtcw0eolkf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24,878 ✭✭✭✭arybvtcw0eolkf


    Schindlers Pissed wrote: »
    You get to know which service stations are good and which are bad.....even when I'm off duty and go for a meal with my wife it's like this....

    Get a table.

    Straight for the main course.

    Eat like a lunatic.

    Leave.

    We're the same in the army lol.

    I've had friends in the dinning hall for lunch or dinner and they're always amazed at how quick soldiers eat.

    When I go out for a meal & drinks its the same, wolf it down and get bored waiting for my civilian company to finish up, by then I'm chomping at the bit to leave.


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