Acute versus Chronic

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 21, 2015

The greatest thing about it is the autonomy. You're pretty much on your own so you don't have to deal with politics or moody coworkers. Most of the time the nurses don't know what you're doing so they can't nit pick or stick their nose in your business. You can just work without anybody bothering you too much. The pay is great and they are always short staffed, so you can make a lot of money. Patients are very very sick, and when the bedside nurse sees you coming down the hall with a machine, they are so happy to see they make you feel like a rock star.

The downside - pushing heavy machines, working until all hours of the night and never knowing when you're going home. If you don't have kids, or don't have to go home and cook dinner or you are on a bowling team or a softball league, it's fine. You can make it work. But if you are a person who likes routine and predictability, it will drive you nuts. The days are long. 16-22 hour days are not unusual. And being on call is a pain. And it seems like you are always on call.

TEXASWAG, MSN, RN · Aug 1, 2015

Davita in San Antonio goes through many Facility Administrators. I think they last maybe 2 years. Not sure why they don't last, but the acute dialysis nurses don't last long either. Too much call, too many long hours....no family life.

NurseRies, BSN, RN · Aug 1, 2015

Davita in San Antonio goes through many Facility Administrators. I think they last maybe 2 years. Not sure why they don't last, but the acute dialysis nurses don't last long either. Too much call, too many long hours....no family life.

I can back that up, I was an acute dialysis nurse traveler in San Antonio. I was scheduled 5 12 hours shifts a week with 4 nights of on call out of those 5. I worked 50-65 hours every single week. There was about 15-20 nurses on the team and they had me, a traveler, who had never worked for Davita before, training new employees. There was only a couple people that had been there longer then a year. It was bad.

Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP · Aug 6, 2015

The greatest thing about it is the autonomy. You're pretty much on your own so you don't have to deal with politics or moody coworkers. Most of the time the nurses don't know what you're doing so they can't nit pick or stick their nose in your business. You can just work without anybody bothering you too much. The pay is great and they are always short staffed, so you can make a lot of money. Patients are very very sick, and when the bedside nurse sees you coming down the hall with a machine, they are so happy to see they make you feel like a rock star.
The downside - pushing heavy machines, working until all hours of the night and never knowing when you're going home. If you don't have kids, or don't have to go home and cook dinner or you are on a bowling team or a softball league, it's fine. You can make it work. But if you are a person who likes routine and predictability, it will drive you nuts. The days are long. 16-22 hour days are not unusual. And being on call is a pain. And it seems like you are always on call.

This sounds like the role of an acute RN, not the FA. All the FAs I have known (and I've known a few) worked office hours with the exception of some later meetings on occasion, and always being available by phone. Some were always MIA and some were more available when you called them, but they usually ran 4 or 5 facilities and were sometimes difficult to get hold of. I always got the impression that the demands of management made them have to make difficult decisions that were not popular with the staff. I think you get pulled in some different directions and have to balance the constantly unbalanced staffing schedule which is a huge stressor. Nothing like an RN calling you at 8pm with 3 add ons and no staff.