Phlebotomy Training – Who else wants to be a Phlebotomist?
Phlebotomy, also known as venepuncture, is a medical process which involves the extraction of the blood of an individual for analyzing and conducting laboratory tests. The individual who carries out phlebotomy is described as a Phlebotomist. In most cases, many people confuse the job of a nurse or nursing assistant with that of a phlebotomist. They are quite different, as they have different tasks. The job of a phlebotomist is only to extract blood from the veins of a patient.
The task of the phlebotomist must be carefully carried out so as to prevent physical trauma or infection at the penetration site, or it may not give a sufficient quantity of blood. Healthcare and medical personnel, including, medical students and healthcare technicians, need to go for training in order to properly become certified phlebotomists. And in order to do that, interested candidates have to take phlebotomy training first in order earn a Phlebotomy certification and ultimately either pursue a full time career as a phlebotomist or simply add it to their medical skill set.
Phlebotomy training – First step toward becoming a Phlebotomist
Today, phlebotomy training is provided at recognized phlebotomy schools which offer medical courses, and it may be a diploma, certification, or degree. In phlebotomy, more than 150 courses can be suggested. Diploma and certificate courses in are usually offered at professional educational institutions, while a college degree can be obtained at community colleges or better.
If you want to pursue a career in phlebotomy, it is important to go for phlebotomy training first. The entire process may take about 12 to 24 months, depending on the number of working hours that you need in learning which will also be added to your work experience. You may also go through the training with small term programs over several days with a simple certificate costing you about $1000. In terms of requirements, different countries have their own requirements. Some only require a high school diploma as the minimum entry requirement for the training.
In most cases, the curriculum for phlebotomy pays attention to some areas of study that the students must go through in order to be qualified. These are:
1. Medical safety guidelines: Many institutions have guidelines on safety procedures that anybody needs to go through to be able to handle fluids from the human body. These include blood and anything related to blood. The phlebotomist must be able to safely practice it when carrying out a procedure for his or her safety as well as the patients.
2. The human anatomy depicting the different veins in the human body, and the importance for the phlebotomist is to be able to identify the viable ones needed to get any specimen. This one will take some practice as well as experience.
3. Needle techniques needed for applying gloves and the correct ways of introducing the needle into a vein with the least amount of discomfort to the patient. It is also important to learn the different tools like syringes, tourniquets and the needed things for extracting blood.
4. Record keeping: It is also important to be able to provide a record of the services carried out, even though this may differ from one institution to another. This may seem like the least important one but it’s actually quite crucial. As a phlebotomist you are required to handle records with care, mixing patients results for examples may lead to different wrong treatments and the impact may be catastrophic.
Phlebotomy certification – The next step toward landing a Phlebotomy job
Many programs are available for phlebotomy training, and this may be a starting point for the people interested in having a career in the medical field, wether they will be specialized in phlebotomy or not. A phlebotomy certification that you may be interested in may be any of the following:
1. A training course of between eight weeks to six months
2. Associate degree program of two years
3. Bachelors of Science degree in phlebotomy of four years
In the United States, there are many institutions which provide phlebotomy certification. Some of them are Association of Phlebotomy Technicians, American Society for Clinical Pathology, and National Phlebotomy Association.
Any certification given by any of these institutions is always recognized in most places because of their authoritative position. In addition, they use tests and instructional materials which reflect prevalent Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) standards. Even while entry requirements have been met, the institutions also expect applicants for phlebotomy certification to sit for an entry examination sometimes.
Phlebotomist drawing blood
Phlebotomy salary – What to expect
This maybe exciting to many, if you choose phlebotomy as a career, the salary you are to expect will depend on a lot of things, but you should be able to find a position that will pay anywhere between $15,000 and $50,000. The salary expectation will depend on the type of college that you attended, the certificate and what kind of phlebotomy training you received. If you got your certificate after going through a one-year training, then you should not expect your salary to be more than $25,000. However, for a phlebotomy degree program that takes about four years with on-going work experience, you should expect to be paid more than $100,000 per annum. In the case of Associate degree, the annual remuneration is always between $60,000-$80,000. Notwithstanding your level of qualification, you should expect your annual salary to increase.
In many places, especially in the United States, there is a high demand for phlebotomists. Although only Louisiana and Florida require certificates for you to practice phlebotomy, very few clinics, hospitals and laboratories throughout the country will risk hiring an individual who does not have the necessary training for obvious liability reasons. A phlebotomy training coupled with a phlebotomy certification will make you stand out in the medical field because employees know that you have the necessary skills to carry out the job, and have gone through the testing mandated by the government.
