Recording HCE Hours

[szh]

Hi, I am new to this group but very excited to be a part of it! I am at the beginning stages of switching my career track from working in television to becoming a PA (big change I know!) I am going back to school in January to begin taking science pre-reqs as well as starting to apply for MA jobs. Does anyone have a good system in terms of logging HCE Hours? Thank you!

 

[Guest MedLib42]

As long as you keep track, generally, of how many hours you work, you'll be fine. If you want to be meticulous about it, you could use a spreadsheet and enter the total worked for each day, week, or month and have it automatically give you a running tally of how many hours you'd accrued so far. That might be easiest and most accurate. 

 

CASPA doesn't require verification of your hours, and neither do a lot of schools - they go primarily by the honor system based on what you say you worked and entered into CASPA. Therefore, if you're not exact down to the minute, it won't matter too much. There are a few schools that ask for verification, but that happens after CASPA has been submitted, and usually doesn't come from the student - they will want a statement sent directly from your employer stating how many hours you've worked.

 

I actually didn't know I'd be applying to PA school when I started my HCE, so I didn't keep track as I went. I just calculated my hours after the fact based on 40 hrs per week times the number of weeks I'd worked, then subtracted any vacation and sick days I could remember (I asked my employer for help if I thought I was missing something major). 

[devovino]

As a Caveat to this, I currently work as a Paramedic in a Hospital based EMS system and I work 4 x 10 hour days (0800-1800) seems pretty cut and dry. However, I am required to be on call the evenings of those days for the remaining 12 hours of the day, so I am wondering how I would tie in these hours since I am not actually " on the clock" per say, but am required to respond on the Ambulance in the evenings? Would one think we will just call it 84 hours a week I am working? 

 

Thanks in advance.

[EMEDPA]

As a Caveat to this, I currently work as a Paramedic in a Hospital based EMS system and I work 4 x 10 hour days (0800-1800) seems pretty cut and dry. However, I am required to be on call the evenings of those days for the remaining 12 hours of the day, so I am wondering how I would tie in these hours since I am not actually " on the clock" per say, but am required to respond on the Ambulance in the evenings? Would one think we will just call it 84 hours a week I am working? 

 

Thanks in advance.

you can't count call hours when you are at home, but if you are called in you can add those hrs.

I worked 10 x 24 hr shifts/mo and did an extra shift or 2/mo as a medic so I think I just gave myself credit for 11.5 x 24 hrs x months worked

[UGoLong]

I did the spreadsheet thing, both to track my hours as an EMT and a paramedic, and to record the training hours that I needed for national registry. I used the data when I applied to PA programs. I suspect that just estimating works too.

[fakingpatience]

I think it would be disingenuous to count all hours you're on call. About how many calls do you get during the on call time a week, and how long does each call take? I'd do the calculation that way. It might also be possible to contact your employer and see if payroll had a count of your hours worked. If your pay rate changes during calls while on call, they should have record of the total hours worked.

[devovino]

Thanks for the feedback, I have been tracking all these hours since I became an employee, and yes, I make a different rate on call, as well as when I am actually responding on the medic, so it's all documented in this fashion. I do plan on applying for the next year of classes, mostly here in the Pacific N.W., so I am sure this is the first of many questions to come! Have been lurking about through this forum and been able tho ascertain quite a lot of information in doing so, and find this tho be an amazing resource as I try to break into the PA profession. Thanks again.