The Vampire Craze has been gone unchecked for months now. It started with Twilight and now the tentacles of this box-office boosting, blood-sucking beast have latched onto film and televisions with shows like True Blood and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At some point the pandemonium will fizzle and only the real-life vampires will be left standing: Phlebotomists.Ok so they don’t exactly suck blood from people’s necks but they do collect it to be tested for medical purposes. Totally similar right? No? I really wanted to use this metaphor so just indulge me.
What is phlebotomy?
It is a skill employed by physicians and many professionals in the medical field including nurses, medical assistants, paramedics, cardiac physiologists (UK) and clinical laboratory scientists. While all of these people have this skill sometimes the workload of doctors and nurses in relieved by people who strictly collect blood call phlebotomists. Activites of the job include drawing blood from patients or donors, verifying records, taking vital signs and testing blood samples.
Preparation
Phlebotomiest must be 18 and have a high school diploma. Most train for 4 months to a year at a career center or trade school and the biggest requirement is being comfortable with blood. You either got it or you don’t in that regard! After that certification classes are required. They usually run 6 weeks and students can be certified by a number of agencies including the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP), the American Medical Technologists (AMT), the American Association of Medical Personnel (AAMP), the National Credentialing Agency (NCA)and the National Phlebotomy Association (NPA)
Perks
The demand for phlebotomists is high and expected to grow so finding a job will be easy.
Flexibility is a great part of the job because you can work lots of hours or or for short periods of time by contract.
By the Numbers
Phlebotomists fall are considered health care support workers, and last year there were about 185,000 in the workplace.
Interesting Tidbit
The names of common methods for drawing blood include venipuncture, butterfly, fingerstick, healstick and capillary puncture.