Davita Acute job

Published

I've read all of the Davita posts, but they seem to be all related to chronic. How do people feel about Davita with acute positions? I'm an ER RN, interviewing with them for an Acute position.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I work in davita acutes--I like my job. Lots of variety. and autonomy. If I have questions regarding my patient or want to change my orders, I talk to my nephrologist within minutes. :yawn: The hours are long, when you include call and call back. This all depends upon the physician groupo you work for. Some will call you for stupid things like a K of 6.0, ainstead of giving them Kayelate. I don't particularly like my boss or the company, but I am not sure there is any for profit company that is truely good to work for.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care and ED.

I've been working in Davita Acutes for two years now and I absolutely love it. I worked in the ICU before this and I'm glad I did it because I really need the ICU experience in Acutes. I am very happy and am actually interviewing for the Charge Nurse position on Friday. It's not like any other job becuase you don't always know when you're going home, and if you're on call you may very well be working until the small hours, but that's unusual, and most of the time you don't get called in and can go home at a normal time. Things change from minute to minute though, and patients get added on or cancelled all the time so you need to be flexible and adaptive. My boss is absolutely fantastic...the best boss I've ever had, and my team mates are the best. I feel like I struck gold. I hope you are as happy in Acutes as I am. :D

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Corrections, neurology, dialysis.

I feel exactly the same way you do. I work for Fresenius. Good, bad or indifferent, what I love about my job is the people. My team is very supportive and helpful. I know I would never get this kind of support working as a floor nurse. No matter what company you work for, it's the people that can make it a great experience or a lousy one.

The hours are rough. A normal day can stretch on to eternity in the blink of an eye. I love it though. In the clinic every day was pretty much a carbon copy of every other day with an occasional change. In acutes I never how the day will go, where I'll be working, how long I'll be working or what patients I'll have.

As someone else mentioned, there is more autonomy. I can pretty much go about my day. I don't have to put up with crap from family members. There is no lifting, no bed baths, and best of all, when I arrive on the unit, everyone is glad to see me. I think dialysis nurses are treated with a little more respect - mostly because now the patient and family will stop whining "when is Mom going to get her dialysis?" and the nurse has one less thing to think about.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am switching from cronic to acutes in a few months due to relocation. I think i will really like it but the lady is talking 4 days a week still with 1-2 nights of call, is this normal

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Corrections, neurology, dialysis.
I am switching from cronic to acutes in a few months due to relocation. I think i will really like it but the lady is talking 4 days a week still with 1-2 nights of call, is this normal

Hmmm. Not sure. We work four days a week with call once a week. Recently though two nurses quit and a third didn't renew her agency contract. Since then we've been working longer hours and taking call more often, but this is hopefully just temporary.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Gongratz to OP!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Just wondering whats the difference between acute and chronic? Thanks.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Corrections, neurology, dialysis.
Just wondering whats the difference between acute and chronic? Thanks.

Chronic means you work in a unit and dialyze patients who come there for regular appointments. It usually means you have to start very early in the morning 4 or 5 a.m. depending on the facility. You take care of 4 patients at once. Then there is a nasty turn-around time - where you are taking 4 patients off treatment and starting treatment on the next shift of 4 patients and it's complete chaos for about 2 hours. It is very hectic.

Acute means you dialyze patients in the hospital who are acutely ill. It could be in a unit or at the bedside. If you do it at the bedside you only dialyze one patient at a time. The pace is much slower. You never know how the day is going to go. The patients are a lot sicker and have multiple other problems going on. You have to coordinate with the nurse and dialyze around having other procedures and therapy being done. The hours can be long and I'm up all night long fairly regularly.

Some people prefer chronic. Some people prefer acute. My preference is working acutes. I like the slower pace, the variety in job sites and patients, the autonomy and having to almost never see the doctor.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I work for acutes too in CA. It's my 4-th year after a job in PACU. We get paid x1.5 after 8 hrs and x2 after 12 hrs. and i hit double time as a rule. absolutely right, slower pace, more focused care, backup for the floor nurse, cna at hand, md on the phone, more autonomy, any delay is paid for, going around different hospitals is like visiting various kingdoms/palaces ;) very exciting. DaVita Acutes differ from place to place. No all bosses are good, but they are not behind your shoulder most of the time.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Telemetry/Hemodialysis.

My goal is to start acutes before 2009!:smokin:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Davita Acutes in houston is not doing well at all. Last year they hired too many nurses and all the nurses could barely make 40 hrs a week so in return alot left the company and went to another company which would gaurantee fulltime hours. Rumor has it that she hired alot of "friends" to the company and that is what created the influx of new nurses.

Also, in one particular hospital in the houston area, no nurse wants to stay because the charge nurse of the dialysis floor runs out all the female nurses . They say its because she is jealous of her lovers wandering eye. The lover? Medical director of that floor. davita won't do anythign about her because the contract lies within the medical directors hands so they dont want the lose the contract even though she treats other nurses badly. She is 30(not exactly pretty) and the med director is married and looks like he is 60. the world gross comes to mind. I just can't believe all this is out in the open but management is only worried about one thing...MONEY! this is sad and ridiculous. I think companies have to speak up. Whatever happened to professionalism? So glad i'm not with davita anymore=)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion