A phlebotomist is someone that draws blood from patients for medical testing, research, or to donate blood to blood banks. This is mainly done in community and private hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, and blood donation centers. Although this is the main part of their job, they also have other responsibilities such as gathering the equipment for the drawing blood process, labeling blood for processing, and entering information in the hospital’s computer databases. Here are the skills needed on your resume.
Data Entry
A phlebotomist will need to be able to use the computer systems where they work to input data about the patient and their specimen. Being able to use technology and understanding data entry makes you a very handy phlebotomist. If you have experience in this field already, all you need is to check out best-phlebotomytraining.com to learn more about the training you will need to begin your career as a phlebotomist.
Attention to Detail
When working in any healthcare environment, you will have a steady flow of patients throughout the day, so you need to be precise with every patient, ensuring the job is done with one before starting with another patient. Accidentally getting blood mixed up could be disastrous and labeling samples and keeping track of them will stop this from happening.
Communication
You may work with every age range and you need to know how to communicate and change your wording to work with and ensure complete understanding of your patient. Most adults know why they are coming in, but they may still be nervous, so explaining the procedure can put them at ease. The way you hold yourself can make the difference between someone feeling nervous or beginning to relax; body language and eye contact are key.
Good Motor Skills
Taking blood takes a certain amount of dexterity, therefore, if you have extremely shaky hands, this may be something you are unable to do. You need to be able to handle equipment correctly and draw blood with precision – and quickly – to ensure minimal distress to your patient. This takes practice and some pick it up more quickly than others; do not be disheartened if you are training and see a colleague get the hang of this faster than you, we learn at our own pace!
Empathy
The chances are your patient isn’t going to like needles. If this is a child, it can be even more difficult to explain why they are getting a pointy-metal thing stuck in their arm. To work in healthcare, strong interpersonal skills are a must, with empathy above the rest. You need to be able to show concern for patients who are nervous and spot the signs that someone is scared, even if they aren’t saying it. This will help you interact better with your patients and make your job and the procedure easier for both of you.
If you already have most of these skills, phlebotomy could be a great career to go down if you are good with blood and needles. Phlebotomists will always be needed and finding a job with these great skills on your resume should be easy.
