Anyone working or have worked for Davita

mmays002 · Nov 19, 2017

If you are still reading treads, you are truly doing your research. All the treads share their experiences. Here are my experience pros and cons. First, let me say that I love dialysis, I'm a male dialysis RN, I've been doing dialysis in FL for 3 years, I am still doing dialysis, and have great job satisfaction. BTW, nurses earn more outside of FL. Like many nurses, I started my nursing career in med/surge and hated it immediately. I only did 1 year of it, but it was very valuable. I took care of all kinds of patients, so I felt like a jack of all trades and a master of nothing. Like any specialty, dialysis is a specialty in which you can be a subject matter expert. Basic dialysis takes about 1 year to get down, so you want to have that med/surge experience to fall back on if you decide dialysis is not for you. Dialysis is very hard work in the beginning but gets easier. Breaking into dialysis was very difficult. If felt like a #1 NFL draft pick. You're happy you were chosen but know you're going to a bad team. Managers want to hire people with experience and only train new employees when they're desperate. It's very expensive to train new employees, it takes a long time before they are ready to be on their own, and since managers are in desperate need of employees to train new ones in the first place, they're often thrown to the wolves (crappie patients and staff) and soon quit. Yes, nurses and PCT's eat their young in dialysis too. Many in-center patients are entitled, criticizing, non-compliant, and rude patients. There are many of PCTs with poor work ethic practicing under your license. They don't monitor their patients, arrive late to work, eager to leave as soon as they clock-in, and often call out. I sometimes had to also work and turnover a pod while assessing patients, receiving and entering orders, checking water, ensuring patient machines are set to correct prescription, and drawing up and administering heparin, meds, and supplements. LOL I'm surprised your still reading! Even with all that, it's still better than working as a floor nurse! I worked in-center HD dialysis for a year, got my experienced and moved to acute dialysis for a year. I worked independently and made way more money; like averaged $4k 2wk paychecks! However, I had to now be on call and the hours were brutal; I averaged 18hrs/day, > 55hr/wk, and I've work 24hrs straight several times. I paid off some debt, saved some money ($20k), and switched to home dialysis. I now train patients to do their own dialysis (HD and PD) at home and I absolutely love my career. It is the best of in-center and acute dialysis and still pays >$70K. I work independently with other professional nurses M-F 9am-5pm. I educate, monitor, and build relationships with my patients. I have a desk but not tied to it, and I often get to get out of the office to visit patients. There are so many other great career paths in dialysis available. If you are able to get hired, accept the position. Stay focus so you can decide if you enjoy the actual dialysis job by blocking out the negatives. Receive the excellent education and training. Embrace the experiences. Resist complacency, strive for excellence, and you too can be successful. I hope you found this helpful and good luck with whatever you do.

AlabamaBelle · Nov 26, 2017

I left acute dialysis at the first of the year for several reasons, two being the insane hours (20+) and bullying (one subtle, one very open). The company could not keep RNs. I was vigorously pursued after I left by upper management. I had taken a significant pay cut to go back to our local community hospital doing night shift. Got the attention of the PTB and was offered a great salary, M-F, no weekend, no call, doing 4-MN. I am enjoying it more this time around. Since I don't mind working solo, this is good for me. And it lets the call person go home and get some rest.

lvnforschool · Nov 29, 2017

I am a LVN currently working at a school, and Im looking into starting at DaVita. It will be a huge change from what I am doing now. I am looking forward to doing "actual" nursing. I am only concerned with a couple of factors. The job is 2 hours away so I will have to move. DaVita is offering to pay those moving expenses, and I am will be doing 3 months of training to start. I haven't yet confirmed but sounds like I will have to sign a contract with the company. I am nervous about that. The pay will be equal to if not a little more than I am currently making. It's so scary to move jobs when you don't know alot about the job. Fingers crossed and im glad for any input on DaVita or dialysis nursing.

wordsmith · Dec 9, 2017

I posted this eight years ago (!):

Nov 27, '09 by wordsmith, ADN, RN

I worked for a doctor-owned facility that was bought out by Davita. There were lots of processes and policies that Davita put in place. OMG...Everyone from Davita was really nice and helped us get this stuff going, but just getting used to it all, holy cow. Lots more paperwork, lots more computer work, way more emphasis on infection control (and we weren't slackers in that dept. before, believe me). They get crazy about measuring heparin down to a 10th of a cc. Our administrator is working 60 hours and is so stressed out, like that other person said, trying to get us what we need and still trying to be a mom, I think eventually she'll quit or go back to being a floor nurse. Overall, though, I think it would be the same for any large company. Benefits are good. Free uniforms, your choice. Pay equitable. Kept same staff. Patients were really anxious and blamed all the changes on Davita even though we kept telling them that many of them were on the new emphasis from Medicare. Whatever.

And now, today, 12/8/17: Boy, did I learn a lot after that. I'd already been working in dialysis three years, and I worked for the two sister clinics five more years, with floating to three other clinics in the state as far as 225 miles away, which was a lot of fun. It's the same thing that other people talk about though--the assembly-line mentality the company has. Every clinic is different, with the tone set by the FA (facility administrator). If the FA isn't organized and interested in making the patient schedule flow well, the whole clinic is disrupted and unorganized. If positions go unfilled and staff are stretched to the breaking point, there's little the FA can do except encourage flagging spirits and tired bodies to keep going. I eventually left DaVita because there was no support for the nurses from the FA, who had been a PCT.

I moved over 200 miles away to take a job with Fresenius (much better $$) and immediately noticed a difference--their staffing was much better--they actually had someone who did labs and stocked supplies for their whole job! I worked on the floor for a bit and then worked in PD for a year until I got an amazing job out of dialysis entirely.

Dialysis is hard work and underappreciated by everyone who has never worked in dialysis. It's a life-sustaining service that gets short shrift from acute care nursing. We have similar problems that floor nurses have. We administer treatments, we give IV antibiotics (frequently in multiples), send patients to the ED when they bottom out (and we don't have a rapid response team, either), and care for fistulas and catheters. I challenge any floor nurse to create a buttonhole access in an established fistula. Just go for it. But, there's so much crap in dialysis, too, and I don't know why. We don't get paid what floor nurses do, and I suspect it's because of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates. But most of the patients make it worth it. If you get into a good clinic with supportive coworkers and a good administrator, and you like the work, stay.

lvnforschool · Dec 11, 2017

Thank you for your reply.

I had the feeling when I talked with the FA on Saturday, it was going to a non-stop work enviroment. I honestly would of been a little more willing if she would of offered to meet me closer to the salary I am currently making. Based on that, and the fact I would be working way harder and longer for less pay, just doesn't sound great. Too bad, cause I am a hard worker and I would of probably did great in this type of nursing but I have too many bills to take a $ 500-700 pay cut right now.