EMTs Struggle with Long Hours, Forced OT and Low Pay Extended 48-hour shifts are the norm rather than the exception in Beaufort County, South Carolina budget documents and schedules reviewed by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette show. May 25, 2021 • (TNS) - In just eight days in January, an EMT and a paramedic with Beaufort County EMS each racked up more than 140 hours doing a job that required quick thinking and reactions at any time of day or night, from rushing to transport trauma patients to the hospital to responding to life-threatening medical emergencies. Three times, their initial, 24-hour shifts ended. And three times, rather than clock out, they started another.