Let us take a look at How to Become a Phlebotomist. A phlebotomist is in charge of health matters concerning the withdrawal of blood for diagnosis and donation, they are also responsible for inserting an intravenous line into a patient’s vein for treatments.
This job requires individuals to get comfortable using the needles, collecting, labeling, and transmitting blood samples from the laboratory. This could be for diagnosis, building the blood bank, or administering treatment.
When it comes to the process and activities of recovering and maintaining good health, only experts are needed to be on deck as life is irreplaceable, that’s why expert Phlebotomist are usually needed in hospitals when it comes to handling patient’s blood.
All it takes to become an expert is to follow due procedures of learning and acquiring knowledge to be expertly dispensed.
If you have no phobia for blood or you are interested in helping patients through coming in contact with their blood for diagnosis and treatment, then becoming a phlebotomist is a great career to delve into.
How to Become a Phlebotomist; overview
Phlebotomists are also referred to as Phlebotomy technicians. Through venipuncture, they draw blood samples from patients in hospitals, blood banks; label and store them in blood containers for the process of diagnosis in the medical laboratory.
A phlebotomist must be knowledgeable about the medicine as they will be relating with clinical doctors and nurses.
To carry out their job effectively, they work under the supervision of the manager in a medical laboratory as the blood samples processed are taken to the medical laboratory.
In addition, they facilitate the donation of blood as they are in charge of collecting blood from donors after the verification by a qualified medic.
This duty they carry out by making the donor feel comfortable and less anxious while donating blood.
They draw blood and collect other tissue fluid as a specimen for the laboratory, label them properly to avoid the wrong diagnosis; they then transport them to the laboratory for testing.
The phlebotomist makes the job of the medical laboratory’s workers, doctors, nurses much easier, and the diagnosis of patients easy; this makes the treatment process defined.
Training and Education Required to Becoming a Phlebotomist
Acquiring knowledge cannot be overemphasized. In any field or profession, learning is necessary to becoming a professional.
Learning to become a professional phlebotomist comes with ease as far as the effort, dedication, and zeal to learn to exist within you, efforts put in place to get trained to become an expert will feel seamless. Outlined below are easy steps to becoming a phlebotomist:
Build an educational Background: The duration of training depends on the background education the individual has acquired.
To become a phlebotomist, it is necessary to have gone to a high school where background subjects on sciences would have been taught.
Normally, the intentional learning scheme to become a phlebotomist is between eight weeks to a year this is determinant both by the educational background of the aspirant and the school’s system.
The majority of a phlebotomist is trained by the institutions where they work. While in training, they take courses in health, sciences, and even psychology so that they can learn good patients’ relations to ensure proper treatment and comfort.
Attain Advanced Knowledge: Some phlebotomist might decide to get advanced knowledge in the field, this could be acquired in a community college or vocational institute or even career schools approved by the National Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences [NAACLS]; this is to ensure that quality education is given to students of phlebotomy.
In any of these approved institutions, you will be acquiring a High Diploma or GED in phlebotomy where you can learn to become a professional.
Immediately after gaining admission into any of these institutions, you pay your tuition fee and proceed to learn to become a professional.
While in any of these institutions, it is wise to get a good grasp of knowledge and experience by compulsorily adhering to instructions laid down at clinical hours; this is to give a first-hand experience of handling patients’ blood for either diagnosis or treatment.
While training, you will also learn more about medical terms as you will be working for hand in glove with the nurses and medical doctors.
Also, you will learn about anatomy because you will be puncturing the body of patients with needles; you will be in contact with the vein and other related body parts when dealing with their blood, hence, it is necessary to learn about the structure of the body.
Get Certified: Some phlebotomists might decide to get a national certificate; certification increases the chance of employability as it proves that you are knowledgeable about your practice.
Hence, get certified by the National Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences [NAACLS] or any recognized organization in your region.
In addition, you will be able to confidently meet other professionals in the field. This will augment your knowledge and increase the quality of your services to patients.
Certification by the approved body of your region gives you an edge to practice and to do nobly; you might want to consider getting certified by the approved body for phlebotomists.
Start Practice: The way to practice the knowledge acquired is to get a job where you can continuously attend to patients.
Over time, you would become a professional who dispenses duty with ease. Since it’s a medical field, you will be getting jobs in the hospitals, medical laboratories where patients go for treatment.
Also, While in contact with patients, you will be doing venipuncture by using the needles to puncture patients’ veins to get their blood samples for diagnosis or to fetch their blood while donating to the blood bank or to give treatment through the intravenous line.
While in practice, build more passion around the job so that your patients can enjoy the benefits of the dispensation of your duty. If you get to practice in the facility that got you trained, give it your best shot so that they can feel the impact of the training on you and the medical outfit.
Who Does a Phlebotomist Relate With?
Since phlebotomist deals with taking blood samples and other tissue fluid from patients, they relate with patients who need their blood drawn out of their body, either for diagnosis or to build up bank blood.
They also relate donors of blood to patients who need blood transfusion; they assist them in drawing out pints of blood.
In addition, they relate with patients who need the intravenous line fixed to their vein for treatment, and sometimes, for expertly drawing out blood samples through the line. Professionals are expected to do this job, that is why it is necessary to get properly trained.
Also, they work as team members with doctors, nurses, medical laboratory workers to bring out the best treatment and recovery process for patients in the hospitals.
Jobs for Phlebotomist
Generally, phlebotomists work in the health sector. They work in hospitals, medical diagnostic laboratories, disease research centers, and blood banks.
As far as diagnosis through blood samples is being carried out, phlebotomists are needed. Therefore, they will get the medical staffing to perform this duty for the growth of the health sector.
In the US for example, about 23 thousand full-time phlebotomists are needed in the nearest future to work in these medical outfits.
This goes to show how promising the field of phlebotomy is, so if you are considering a career path along this line, it isn’t a bad idea as it carries a lot for you; all you need is to learn, become a professional and then practice by getting involved in the healing process of patients.
There are no loose ends for you when you become a phlebotomist; you will be winning on all sides as you will be making a living out of the profession and also tending to the diagnostic and recovery process of your patients.
The functions of phlebotomists are also needed and employed in ambulatory care, outpatient care centers, and some physician offices. Hence, opportunities abound for you if intending to become a phlebotomist; just follow due processes to becoming one.
Other skills and Requirements Phlebotomists should Possess
Beyond the certification and other formal education, some traits make one stand out as a phlebotomist; possessing these additional skills enhances the quality of service rendered during the dispensation of their duties.
A phlebotomist should be comfortable working with the needles because this is the major tool used on patients.
If the phlebotomist finds it hard to get comfortable with puncturing patients, this might put more anxiety into the patient, it might lead to several puncturing and even distort accuracy when trying to find the right point venipuncture.
Another skill that is pertinent in aiding the proper dispensation of phlebotomy is meticulosity. The phlebotomist must always be observant and ensure that full attention to detail is paid in all the processes of venipuncture.
The process of drawing blood samples has to be done gently and correctly by finding the right vein spot, also, the phlebotomist must ensure that the labeling process is correct to avoid mix up of diagnosis and in the ripple effect of wrong administration of treatment as the other medical professionals would trust and work with outputs from other team members.
Even the transportation of the samples must be done with correctness and safety. The case of corrupted samples has to be avoided to ensure that the actual result is gotten.
If any mistake occurs while labeling and transporting, it may cause serious adverse effects on the patients and if not quickly rectified could lead to more damages and in extreme cases, death.
Hence, a phlebotomist must possess the characteristic of observance, paying attention to all details and correctness. Striving for perfection should be a natural thing for a phlebotomist. These skills if not gotten naturally, can always be acquired.
The phlebotomist should also learn good relation and communication skills as they will be relating with patients whose blood needs to be drawn out.
It is psychologically imbalanced to draw blood out of a human, hence, phlebotomists need to learn how to communicate with patients in a soothing manner and put them at ease to allow their blood samples to be taken easily.
That is why in the course of the training or education in the approved institutions, psychology is offered to students so that they can know how to handle different patients in the right way to get the best result while dispensing their duties.
Team spirit is an essential skill for anyone who works in the health sector. This skill shouldn’t be lacking in a professional phlebotomist.
They must learn to dispense their duty while working hands in gloves with other medical practitioners in achieving the same goal of healing and recovery of patients. They often work under the supervision of the medical laboratory manager who transfers the test result or pints of blood getting to the doctors and nurse while giving treatments.
Final Words on How to Become a Phlebotomist
Choosing to learn and become a professional in the field of Phlebotomy is a great one as you are going to be part o the process of bringing recovery to the patients you come in contact with, this is a noble act and an important impact on humanity.
While you engage in this profession, you will eventually be earning cash for livelihood. In any field, of which phlebotomy isn’t excluded, becoming a professional need you to input your dedication towards acquiring knowledge, which entails that from high school to acquiring a diploma or GED, down to certification and actual practice with real-time patients, ensure that you dedicate your energy and time to learning and following instructions during the clinical hour to make sure that you learn to give out the best while dispensing your duty.
After the training process, you have little or no fear of employment as there are lots of opportunities for medical staffing as a phlebotomist.
Hospitals, medical and diagnostic centers, ambulatory health cares, and other related medical bodies require the service of a phlebotomist. Choosing to become one is a great and noble thing to do, start right away!
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