Davita Salaries, Bonuses and Benefits.

What are the average starting salaries, bonuses, benefits and travel requirements like at Davita?

What do you like best about working at Davita? Are there any great perks or special treats for employees?

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Host said: What are the average starting salaries, bonuses, benefits and travel requirements like at Davita?

What do you like best about working at Davita? Are there any great perks or special treats for employees?

There are great benefits at DaVita - it is an employee driven company - I only left due to a job closer to my home

Jen in Lacey, Washington said: There are great benefits at DaVita - it is an employee driven company - I only left due to a job closer to my home

I worked for DaVita for several years. I was paid $33/hr in California, when the hospitals are easily paying $45/hr.

The reason I left is the cutbacks in staffing. They think it's okay to have 1 RN for 15 patients on dialysis. Frankly, I think it's unsafe.

I agree that 15-16 patients per RN is unsafe. I am very close to quitting for that reason. (another dialyis company - sounds like they are all the same, at least the big companies anyway!)

Susan in Aberdeen, Washington said: I agree that 15-16 patients per RN is unsafe. I am very close to quitting for that reason. (another dialyis company - sounds like they are all the same, at least the big companies anyway!)

well, here in ga it is in legislation we are to have 1 nurse to 4 patients.

Hello, I was with Davita for years. I have worked in just about every aspect of this company. From my experience I can truly say that this company talks a lot about there core values and shows absolutly none to their patients as well as their employees. I had worked in both the laboratory and clinics. Which I might say are two different enities. You might say that they are the same company but working there feels like they are not. In the Lab, I noticed there are definately more perks like bonuses at least every 3 months and good pay. Anything you need you get. That's if you can put up with the high school drama. The few honest hard- working people there get the work done. You can probably figure out the rest. If you can handle all that, this is the right place for you. At the clinic, its a totally different story. The RN's and PCT's at Davita are the most hard working people I have met in my life. They are the defination of above and beyond. We are always short staffed and under paid I might add. I would say that 16 patients on one shift to 1 RN and 3 techs is about as unsafe as it gets. It seems that all around the US this is happening and the employee retention is a huge issue. Companys seem to worry about money now and not the people.

buttercup,
I agree with what you said 100%. I used to work at a lab know people that work at the clinic, I hear them complain of the same things you mention everyday about working at the clinic. Working at the lab was quite the experience, I have never seen a company hire so many people that just don't work in my life, the lab has SO many people working in it yet they still can't get the job done adequatly. Management likes to hire women in the 18-25 age range to flirt with and hookup with, they also like to hire white males loaded up with piercing's and tatoo's, it seems like any profesional hard working person that comes in gets fired for some stupid reason while the partying alchoholics fit right in with the managers and move up. It realy is a backwards world in Davita

I am an RN at a Davita clinic here in North Texas. I make $7.00 more an hour at my clinic than any hospital within 70 miles.

I love working for DaVita and will never be anything but a nephrology nurse.

I work with at least 1 LVN and 4 techs we have 18 chairs. With admin in the building we have 2 other RN's an LVN and a tech. We are busy the entire time we're open and we work non stop but I don't feel that our customers are at all at risk because of the nurse to patient ratio. Techs know their business and I'd have to say they know as much about a dialysis patient as any LVN and most RN's. They may not have a degree, but they know their nephrology!

I can't agree with you more. I had heard good things about Davita from some who had worked there in the past. Whether or not is was my division only or times have changed the company drastically, I cannot say, however it was a nightmare. Administrators are forced to work in place of the teammates when staff is short (which is all the time). The higher level employees are very unprofessionable, and instruct in terminating employees whose salaries are too high. One RN is responsible for at least 9 patients even if there are techs there and there will be two, the techs cannot do many of the things that only the RN can do, so the RNs run-amuck all day. There is little support from management. It's like it or leave it and ....there you go. I tend to think Kent Thiry wouldn't be too happy with this little part of the world.

Was meant to be a reply to Buttercup's comments

I agree with Jane Doe. I am a Tech with Davita and from the Tech's view we do mostly everything that the RN's do except give the meds (and in some cases...ie: saline, lidocane, etc. we do it all) The tech is that patients first savior if something goes wrong..I can't tell you how many times i've had a patient go out on ME...not the nurse. We are all CPR certified..and unless someone in that facility is ACLS certified...there's nothing more that RN or LPN can do. Some of you talk about the 15:1 18:1 ratio of RN's...but in reality...if there is an LPN/LVN on the floor working as a tech...it's not a 15:1 ratio in the State/Davita's eyes...they are a NURSE...maybe not the "charge" Nurse...i dunno maybe things are different in MD..

I worked at a county dialysis clinic (a competitor of davita) as a patient care tech for awhile until I had to quit to focus on my classes and I hate to say it but the nurse to patient ratio almost in any clinic you go to isn't that great. We had one nurse to thirty three patients an LPN who never got off of her butt and about four techs for the twelve hour shift. I've never worked so hard in my entire life but I soon realized thats the way things are ran. Its really sad but true, some patients didn't get the quality care that they deserved because the techs, nurses and other staff were never on the same page. The team work was horrible and it was ridiculous how bad the gossip was in the unit. The way things were ran was also sad, it seemed like they kept the ones who wanted to gossip and got rid of the ones who busted their butts!

MedStudent in Leavenworth, Kansas said: I worked at a county dialysis clinic (a competitor of davita) as a patient care tech for awhile until I had to quit to focus on my classes and I hate to say it but the nurse to patient ratio almost in any clinic you go to isn't that great. We had one nurse to thirty three patients an LPN who never got off of her butt and about four techs for the twelve hour shift. I've never worked so hard in my entire life but I soon realized thats the way things are ran. Its really sad but true, some patients didn't get the quality care that they deserved because the techs, nurses and other staff were never on the same page. The team work was horrible and it was ridiculous how bad the gossip was in the unit. The way things were ran was also sad, it seemed like they kept the ones who wanted to gossip and got rid of the ones who busted their butts!

I worked for a dialysis center also -- the gossip and immaturity of some people I worked with was ridiculous. After going to my boss and speaking to her about it. I found out it was her that was spreading all the gossip. I left that job -- if u cannot trust the boss - it is time to leave!

chris said: buttercup,
... it seems like any profesional hard working person that comes in gets fired for some stupid reason while the partying alchoholics fit right in with the managers and move up. It realy is a backwards world in Davita

I would have to agree with your observation. There are too many management levels in between the people who work with the patients and the top. I heard the values preached but did not observe them practiced on the patient care level. I saw professionals who were at the patient care level get fired or harassed until they quit if they pointed out improvements necessary that cost the company money.

I have worked in dialysis for over ten years. I have worked for two major dialysis companies and I can honestly say Davita is the worst. They preach their "core values" which are a bunch of crap because they certainly do not practice what they preach. The core values are used as a way of brainwashing and guilting their employees at the clinic level into working their rears off with unsafe ratios while the FA's and above enjoy their bonuses and parties including open bar at all of their "meetings". At the clinic level, when it comes to patient care, it is all about saving money for Davita, much more so than the other large dialysis company that I worked for. Davita actually penalizes clinics for using "too many supplies", such as guaze or syringes for their patients while the management enjoys "business" trips including dinner cruises and 5 star accommodations in places such as Chicago. Instead of matching 401k, Davita claims to offer bonuses. The bonus system is a joke, as it is based on goals that are close to impossible to meet and are for the most part out of your control. Why anyone would work for Davita is beyond me...you will be overworked, many times in very unsafe conditions with ratios that are against the law in many states. You will not be appreciated in any way, and you will watch as your manager preaches about core values and staying below budget, as they go on Davita paid trip after trip all in the name of business. Instead of providing open bar during "business trips", perhaps Davita should put that money into better care for their patients, eliminate reuse (a practice that is of no benefit to patients with modern dialyzers and increases risks) and better pay and benefits for good staff to lower turnover. My advice, if you are a nurse or tech, stay as far away from Davita as possible.

chris said: it seems like any profesional hard working person that comes in gets fired for some stupid reason while the partying alchoholics fit right in with the managers and move up. It realy is a backwards world in Davita