Some people have had childhood dreams of becoming a doctor, others of becoming a nurse – but these are only the most well known jobs in the medical field. Many other functions,and specialists to perform them, are needed for a modern clinic or hospital to function – and phlebotomy is one such area. A phlebotomist is a person who acquires and handles blood samples from patients, and to become one, you need a phlebotomy certification. This takes from two to four years, and is a mix of theoretical studies and practical, hands-on training in a clinic or similar medical institution.
Some of the things you are taught include how to take the blood samples of course, how to perform test on the samples using modern lab equipment, and how to document the results using computers and specialized journaling systems. The main thing is of course learning how to draw blood from real patients – without injuring them! There are different techniques to be learned, to be used for drawing blood from different blood vessels – like the capillaries, the veins or the arteries. If a test requires that the blood is taken from an artery, it takes a phlebotomist properly trained in arterial punctures to do the work.
You are expected to have finished highschool, with good grades in english and math, not to mention biology and chemistry – in order to be eligible for attending a phlebotomy certification program. Some people manage to study for their new career while working a full time job – and while this can be tough at times, it is definitely possible to pull off. Online phlebotomy courses can be a way to get the theory out of the way, instead of commuting to a physical classroom. The practical training still requires you to show up in person, of course.