Phlebotomy certification is a must in California. As the law there states it “All persons who are not doctors, nurses or clinical lab scientists must be licensed in order to draw blood”. The only other state that has this kind of law is Louisiana.
This law was passed in 1993 and the only people who were under exception were those already in the career. Some will tell you though, that the new law changed the dynamics in the field of phlebotomy. Suddenly, people who were practising without certification were competing with new people in the market who were certified and they had to start their own certification training in order to keep their jobs.
All phlebotomy instructors were affected in as well. They had to be certified but not by just any body; they had to pass an exam given by a body that was approved in the state legislation.
To qualify in California, you need to have 1,040 hours of experience (not theory). That roughly translates to 43 (24 hour) whole days spent in the lab. In addition to this, the state requires you to have done at least 50 venipunctures successfully and 10 skin punctures.
As you can see, its tough to get you phlebotomy certification in CA and you might be tempted to not do it there. After all, you can you can pursue a career in phlebotomy without necessarily having to take a phlebotomy certification exam so long as you are not in these 2 states. But what does that mean for you as a person who wants to be an expert phlebotomist? It means that you would be throwing away the chance to separate yourself from the pack.
There are thousands of people doing phlebotomy as a career and hospitals and other institutions that need phlebotomists will have to make do with what they can find, but what if someone who had gone through the kind of rigorous training described above came into the scene? I think you can see the tables turning already. You, who doesn’t have the benefit of all the training, will definitely become less desirable in the job market.
That’s why it’s advisable to go through all the rigorous courses offered in California. It pays off in the end. If you don’t live in California, you might want to consider moving there for a while or getting your phlebotomy certification online. There are online courses now that will offer you all this. If you can, try and get your practical bit done in California too; stay at a dorm room or with friends for a while until you are done with the course. It’s going to pay you back in a big way. When you go back home, your local hospital and many other medial institutions that use phlebotomists will want to hire you and you can ask for a higher starting salary.
If you want to take the online training option for phlebotomy certification, that’s good too but make sure to look for a school that’s got a good reputation and that administers exams that are prepared by a registered body.
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