A phlebotomist is a person who holds a big responsibility in a hospital. The phlebotomy job consists of drawing out the patient’s blood, blood that is used afterward for medical tests or blood transfusions, sometimes donations of blood.
The phlebotomist must know how to work with the needles, blood containers and such in order to draw blood. They must have knowledge of how to draw the blood without causing discomfort to the patients. The blood is drawn from the vein in the arm. The phlebotomist must know where the veins are, and not make mistakes that will cause the patients to bleed more. First, place the arm that is going to be used has to be cleaned, and after the blood is drawn, some antiseptic must be used. After the blood is drawn, the phlebotomist is running the tests if that are the case, and a diagnosis is made.
The important part of this job is that the phlebotomist is making the job of the rest of the medical staff much easier. The nurses and the other doctors have less work to do this way, which ensures faster services.
The phlebotomist will meet many people every day. They have to be able to properly explain the procedures to the patients. Some of them may be scared, so they must be helped to feel more comfortable with the procedure. This is true especially in the case of children. Some communication abilities must exist - and the phlebotomist must be able to keep people calm and at ease through the procedure. Many people are scared of needles and such, especially if it is their first time doing it. Some people can even faint, so some precautions should be taken before the actual blood drawing takes place.
The employees must comply to all the hospital policies and rules, and be very clean at work. Everything must be sanitized and all the tools (like needles) must of course be used only one time. Hands need to be washed often. If it is found out that, the rules have not been followed properly, the phlebotomist will be held responsible, and this can have very severe repercussions. When it comes to health, all the personnel working in the hospital must comply to very severe rules.
A phlebotomist usually works in a hospital or a blood bank. The average weekly schedule is about 40 to 48 hours. The salary of a person working in this industry will be about $40000 a year on an average. This depends on the state and hospital or blood bank.
The phlebotomist must have a certificate and a license in order to perform his/her job. Different states have different policies, and some phlebotomists only need a high school diploma and of course, hospital training. Some other places require their employees to be graduates. No matter what, some training on the job must be done, to ensure the person know what they are doing, and not put anyone in any kind of danger.
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