It depends. You can work an 8 hour shift, either morning, evening or night. You can work 12 hour shifts from 8 am to 8 pm, or 8 pm to 8 am. Or you could do what I did and go to work on a Tuesday and get off the Thursday the following week. It varies on whether you work for a private service or a county job. Many of the medics I worked with worked whatever they could, and many of these shifts were "as needed" meaning only 8 hours a week to 120 hours a week.
A shift is usually 12-18 hours. It really depends on how many days and EMT works. Most that I know work about 5-6 days of out the week so at least 60 hours. It'd be less if you plan on going to school at the same time of course.
An EMT or Paramedic doesn't really get a "break" however, there is a lot of down time in between calls. Some days you will be on your phone all day, other days you will be stuffing food into your mouth on the way to a call because you know you won't have another chance to eat for hours.
Well, there are different levels of to being an EMT; there are EMT-B's, EMT-I's (in some states) and EMT-P. So I suggest you do some investigation work and decide which one you actually want to pursue. Overall, being an EMT is a fun gig. Depending on where you live definetly determines how many hours a week you'll work to what you'll actually see. If you work in a busy city, you'll definetly see some things and work a ton of hours. Once again, pay varies with where you work. A lot of EMT's work several hours over their norm because in more cases that not, the pay leaves something to be desired.
In the US, it's generally around 180 hours, but it can certainly be more than that.
To find a job on emt, you should go to this site www.indeed.com/q-EMT-jobs.html. It will be easier for you if you already have an EMT certification and you can have a good work.
It depends from state to state, but most requires you to work a full year as an EMT Basic before you can become an EMT Paramedic. You need to take the EMT Paramedic training and certification.
An EMT (emergency medical technician) can work anywhere. You see them mostly working with paramedics on an ambulance but they can also be with a firedepartment. I have some EMT friends who work at factories. They are part of the special response teams. I am an EMT at the first responder level.
You become an EMT and work your way up. An EMT course at a community college is about 6 mos. After 2000 hrs as an EMT, you are certified as a paramedic.
EMT training courses prepare an individal to pass EMT accreditation exams in order to work as an EMT Basic or EMT Paramedic. Both provide emergency medical care to the injured or ill in a number of settings.
The EMT-Basic test is given via a computer and is a Computer Adaptive Test (i.e., the test is adapted based on the student's aptitude). The number of questions on the EMT-Basic exam will range from 70 to 120 based on the EMT student's aptitude. You will be given a maximum of two hours to complete the EMT-Basic exam.
Check with the local school that provide emt training, like the community college.
The Malcolm X College is located in Chicago, IL and carries it's own EMT training as well as EMT-B refresher training. The refresher training is 24 hours long.
In fact, EMT certification is not the same from state to state. Some states have their own certification process and only recognize EMT's that have their certification. Other states participate in a national EMT registry.
To find a job on emt, you should go to this site www.indeed.com/q-EMT-jobs.html. It will be easier for you if you already have an EMT certification and you can have a good work.