Need advice about DaVita - Is it a good company to work for?

ET04 · Aug 28, 2009

I'm a new grad that went straight into Davita incenter dialysis not because I wanted to but because that was the only job offer I had. Do I like it? Not really, I'm still trying to get my hands on a med-surge experience in the hospital. People think dialysis is easy and all you do is put on patients.. wait 4 hours..put on another set of patients. That's what I thought it would be. But I'm running around the whole day. why am I running? because after I put on my patient I have to prepare and get everything ready for my second patient, and sometimes 4hours is just barely enough to get everything ready when i'm also doing vitals q30 min on 4 some times 8 patients (that is if my bay partner took one of them long ass 1hour break), drawing meds and passing them out, and also attending to patient's complain and machine alarms. Then turn around comes (that's when you take off your first set of patient and hook the second of patient almost the same time) and I basically go crazy. I have to like do 6-7 things the same time, getting pulled in so many different directions :banghead: . Oh yea, they have me working as a pct but since I'm a nurse they jsut let me do all the nursing part also on my four patients. part of the training i guess... After the turn around is when my day gets better, because now it seems like I have all the time in the world, and I don't feel rush anymore. On the first shift you have to rush because you want to be ready for the turnaround. But after the second shift, there's no turn around to worry about, you just have to get take the patients off and get the bay ready for the next day (we only have 2 shifts in my clinic).

So aside from that you also have to deal with NO teamwork despite that davita talks a lot about their core values and one of them is teamwork, techs vs nurse, lvn vs rn issues (who knows more and that kind of stuff). Why can't we just get along and work and learn together. Oh i forgot THERE'S NO TEAMWORK. Also more often than not i'm scavenging for supplies that are essential to get through the day such as tape (how am i going to secure a needle w/o tape), 4x4, syringes (can't pass medications and access catheters), bleach stirps (basically everyday you're basically suppose to check for bleach in the machien with bleach strips or else your patients might get bleach into their body, so how do they think we can even start the day without these?)

astoryrn · Aug 30, 2009

Hi, I have been in dialysis for 25 years. I started working as a tech during nursing school. I never worked in a hospital (other than to do acutes) for about 20 years. I never missed it. I found when I DID work in a hospital, as a med-surg nurse, within 6 weeks of being there, I was the resource person. I have never felt uncomfortable walking into an ICU or CCU. The nurses there are the patient's "nurse," and I am there for dialysis. We usually work together. What I am saying is it is the nurse him/herself, and not the specialty. You just need a strong dose of common sense, and a good knowledge base. I have worked as a traveler, for Davita, FMC, and other both not-for-profit and for profit companies. It is not the company that makes a dialysis clinic, it is the people in it. I believe that no company, or nurse, intentionally is "better" or "worse" than another. Everyone is doing their best for the patient. BTW, it is common practice for techs to give Lidocaine, Heparin and Saline in the dialysis setting. Depending on the state, they can also access central lines. They are not set loose willy-nilly to do these things. They are well trained and precepted, and the nurses whose "licenses are on the line" trust them. If not, either the nurse or the tech has no business there. Hope this helped!

nursewratchet59 · Sep 2, 2009

Work at least 1 year in MedSurg, like everyone says, and like you really already know. I've been with DaVita for >10 years, and have been an FA for 7. I would really be scared to have someone straight from school. It's scary. Also, dialysis is dialysis. Hardest work you will ever do. In my opinion as well, I am a GREAT FA, we always make our goals, I always take care of my team, and in fact take better care of my team than the patients. My thoughts being that happy workers do take better care of the patients. Anyway, if I were going to work in a clinic, and had Me for a boss, it would be good. Some jobs are hideous because of the boss. I'm not trying to took my horn, but some people just are horrible to work for, and dialysis is hard enough anyway. Get some other experience first.

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Sep 3, 2009

I went straight into dialysis after nursing school and I don't regret it. I don't feel that I missed anything by passing up med-surg experience. It's true I don't do things like drop NG tubes or insert Foleys, but by seeing many different patients at all levels of acuity - from walkie-talkies to completely obtunded - I have gained lots of knowledge and great assessment skills. I have seen things I would never see in med-surg and I get to put a lot of pieces together. I've seen conditions change in the blink of an eye and have developed a sense for knowing when things aren't quite right. So I guess it depends, and true maybe I may have missed a few things, but overall I don't regret going straight into dialysis. I'm very happy with my choice.

jawh7b · Sep 17, 2009

Just curious- did you end up taking the job with DaVita?

I am in the same boat as you. I did take the job right out of nursing school. Never thought I would be doing dialysis, but times are tough right now and hospitals play around too much with if they want to hire or not (several local hospital waited over a month to tell me after the interview). I think DaVita treats their employees well under the pay scale for sure. Compared to all my friends (who have to work nights, weekends). I get the same or a couple more dollars than them working at a Hemo clinic. But, it is scary thinking that after orientation I may be the only licensed person...although our FA helps out quite a bit on the floor if she's there. I think it is rewarding so far and soooo different than the hospital.

NurseKitten, MSN, RN · Sep 27, 2009

BTW, it is common practice for techs to give Lidocaine, Heparin and Saline in the dialysis setting. Depending on the state, they can also access central lines. They are not set loose willy-nilly to do these things. They are well trained and precepted, and the nurses whose "licenses are on the line" trust them. If not, either the nurse or the tech has no business there. Hope this helped!

Respectfully, I disagree. Yes, it's common practice. And the saline, I have no problem with - if the PCT is running the treatment, and a patient's BP gets low, sure, hit 'em with 100-200 mL's and see what happens before pushing the panic button.

Pushing Heparin can often be accomplished by a license, if the licensed nurse comes and does their pre-treatment assessment and heparin push at the same time. That's how I ran my floor.

The accessing of central lines is where I draw the line. Those sites are tunneled straight into the SVC, and until they come up with a vascular access that doesn't deal with the potential to instill air straight into someone's right atrium, IMHO, you need a license to mess with it. We had some great techs at my last facility - fabulous, and I trusted them completely. Some of them were better sticks than I was...but no matter how much experience they may have, it is indefensible if they have no license and something stupid happens - and we all know it does, every day, many times across the country.

I saw it as protecting them as much as protecting myself. I made my peace with the hard, cold reality that one day, something I did (or didn't do) could kill a patient. Thank God, it's not happened yet, but I am very careful, and make it my business to have excellent, current clinical assessment skills.

Where I've worked, these techs live and face these patients and their families every day in the community. Many of them are related - it's just the nature of the small towns in which I've worked. I've seen how it affects everyone, but specifically the non-licensed staff when a patient dies...and I can't imagine if they had felt that death had come by their own hands.

My opinion only, but the "higher risk" procedures, e.g. medications, central lines, water systems, etc, need a license, not only for liability but peace of mind.