They arrive at the examination room armed with some needles, vials and other blood storage items, some gauze, gulp, some clinical gloves and an alcohol swab. They are the feared blood collectors! These medical professionals are a vital part of the overall medical team. Without their skills, most of the other medical practitioners would find it almost impossible to perform the required laboratory analysis and would not be able to sufficiently diagnose what is ailing their patients or tell them they have nothing to worry about.
So what really is phlebotomy and when did it come into being?
Phlebotomy is the art of drawing blood from patients for further diagnostic measures. As a matter of fact, blood collectors are not the favorite people for squeamish patients. Nobody can for sure tell when bloodletting came into being, but it is generally thought that the modern phlebotomy came to be in the 20th century.
In general, phlebotomy refers to the ancient practice of bloodletting. Bloodletting involved huge withdrawals of blood from the body in an attempt to cure a variety of ailments affecting people. Today, bloodletting practice has largely been abandoned in the modern medicine. The modern phlebotomy is generally used for the withdrawal of blood specimens from a patient’s capillary bed, vein, etc., into safe collection blood vials or blood bags for blood transfusion or for further laboratory testing.
Although some specific medical conditions, for instance, polycythemia and hemachromatosis that causes excessive accumulation of huge amounts of blood or iron in the body, still need heavy bloodletting, it is no longer practiced for therapeutic purposes. Today’s bloodletters are known as the phlebotomists and they generally extract blood from the patients for the purposes of running laboratory tests, which in turn will help to determine what is ailing a person. Phlebotomy is one of the oldest forms of medical practice lasting several thousands of years and that continues to be an important area in the medical field in our current times.
What are the career prospects for the phlebotomy aspirants?
Basically, the medical field is dynamic, meaning that it will continue to evolve through the years. As such, those people who enter into it will never lack employment chances in the coming years. The modern bloodletters or phlebotomists can find employment chances in such places as hospitals (either in the outpatients or inpatients laboratories), commercial laboratories, private clinics, physician offices, government medical facilities, blood banks, clinics, medical research centers, insurance companies, public health facilities and the likes.
Other duties
Apart from their normal daily undertakings, they are also trained in other laboratory collection methods, for example urine collection. This leads them to performing additional tasks in their area of specialization or gaining employment opportunities in such places as pregnancy clinics. Some phlebotomists, especially those who work for private clinics, may also work on the road, visiting patients at home and taking samples to the lab for further analysis.
All in all, once you become a qualified phlebotomist, you will never lack employment in the United States of America, and you will also receive good pay too. However, it is important to know that for you to be successful in this demanding medical field you must have a steady hand, good vision, and superb bedside manners so as to be able to effectively deal with those patients (and they are many) who are afraid of needles.
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