Phlebotomy CertificationPhlebotomy certification is a part of the huge healthcare industry that most people don't talk about. That may be because most of these experts are working silently, though they are ubiquitous. So, who are phlebotomists actually? These are people who are trained and qualified to draw blood from patients. This could be for some kind of testing, or it could be part of a blood donation. Drawing blood is not as simple as most people think. If done by a person who is not trained for it, it could be very painful and could leave wounds behind. Also, there are things to be checked such as certain disease conditions, sensitive areas of the body, etc. Phlebotomists take these things into consideration before drawing blood from the body. They use techniques they learn during their phlebotomy certification programs so that they don't make it too painful for the patient. Though most people don't talk about this profession-it certainly isn't well-known beyond healthcare circles-these people do earn quite well. Once you get your certification and get some experience in the form of an internship, you can earn up anywhere between $25,000 and $35,000 in your first year itself. If your employment is in a more reputable healthcare institution-such as a renowned hospital-you can earn more. However, the bulk of the jobs that are available for qualified phlebotomists is in physician's offices, which aren't the highest payers in this line. So, what will you be doing when you are a phlebotomist? The main part of your job is to draw blood from patients. But there are various things that you will be doing before and after that. You might have to give an appointment for the patient. You will have to follow some guidelines given by the doctor, depending on any special case that the patient might have. Since a phlebotomist cannot draw blood from a patient voluntarily, you will have to see what the doctor instructs. Then, there is also the job of putting the patient at ease. People are never too happy about having blood being removed from their body. Part of the phlebotomist's job is to reassure the patient that it won't be painful and then use the right techniques to do so. This task becomes more difficult if the patient is a child. Though there isn't any special branch of phlebotomy such as pediatric phlebotomy, handling these patients could become more difficult. Once the sample is collected, you will have to send it to the labs for testing or store it for transfusion or use it in whatever way the particular case demands. A phlebotomist's job is only to draw blood-you aren't going to be administering any form of medication, oral or intravenous. You aren't going to test the blood. You are only supposed to collect the sample and send it to the appropriate department for further use. Your job becomes more challenging when there's a blood donation drive. At such times, you will be collecting blood samples from a lot of people, which adds to the variety of the job. |