Overview
A phlebotomist’s main duty is to safely draw blood from the patient’s arteries, veins or capillary bed and collect it into small blood vials or blood bags for appropriate storage and later use. Traditionally, in all healthcare facilities, may they be private or public clinics or hospitals or blood drives, the act of drawing blood from the patients has always been performed by either the nurses or the doctors. Nowadays, phlebotomists have come into the picture and are hired to lessen the doctors and their assistants’ workload. If requested, phlebotomists visit outpatients to collect blood samples for further medical testing.
Florida Schools offering Phlebotomy Courses
- Florida Medical Training Institute that has branches in several Florida cities, for instance Jacksonville, Melbourne, Miami, Coral Springs and Tampa
- Brevard Community College in Cocoa, FL
- Pasco-Hernando Community College in New Port Richey, FL
- Florida Technical College in Lakeland and Deland, Florida
- Everest University in Clearwater, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Melbourne, Orange Park, Orlando, pompano Beach, Tampa, FL
- Everest Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Hialeah, Miami, FL
- Sanford-Brown Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, FL
- Southwest Florida College in Fort Myers, Tampa, FL
- Florida Career College in Hialeah, Miami, West Palm Beach, Pembroke, FL
- Florida Technical College in Auburndale, FL
- Remington College in Tampa, FL
- Fortis Institute in Miami, FL
Top cities in Florida hiring phlebotomists
- Panama City
- Miami
- Atlantis
- Arcadia
- Orlando
- DeBary
- Dade City
- Florida City
- Jacksonville
- Lake City
Essential training and certification
Today, there are many students opting to study phlebotomy as their long-term career alternative. There are many reasons as to this, some of them being the easy access to phlebotomy jobs and its relatively shorter training durations. After training, one can gain further experience in proper patient care and most of blood related works. This being the case, working as a phlebotomy technician is a good start in the modern medical profession.
The minimum educational requirement to becoming a phlebotomy technician is a high school diploma, General Educational Development (GED) diploma or their equivalent. After enrolling, a phlebotomy candidate undertakes a highly specialized training program.
Drawing blood is a skill that gets developed with experience and time. However, studying basic nursing applications are a prerequisite to becoming a qualified phlebotomist. Phlebotomy training period ranges from three months to 12 months, depending on how a prospective phlebotomist wants to take their study. However, while joining a phlebotomy training program, make sure that the organization you join provides phlebotomy certification. To be on the safe side, join a reputed phlebotomy training school in your locality.
A graduate can apply for a phlebotomy job in any health care facility or private homes after completing their six months of certification training. Top phlebotomy certifying agencies in United State of America include the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and American Society of Phlebotomy Technicians.
Personality and skills required for this vocation
A phlebotomist should be an empathetic, positive, reassuring and a gentle person who is able to work well with his or her hands and have a high level of concentration ability. To be successful in this demanding medical profession, the following skills are required:
- Good presentation skills
- Excellent communication abilities
- Patient care skills
- Ability to work in fast paced and pressurized health care environment
- Strong interaction skills
Salary expectations and career prospects
Basically, health care industry keeps on growing; consequently, the demand for well trained medical personnel is on the rise. In short, such medical practitioners as phlebotomists have good career prospects in future.
According to the latest remuneration survey in Florida, a phlebotomist salary ranges from $21,000 to $28,000 annually. In actual fact, Florida is considered to be among the best markets for those aspiring to work as phlebotomists in terms of pay. After working for some time as a professional phlebotomy technician, one can get promoted to a phlebotomy supervisor. A salary rise of up to $ 50,000 can be then be expected.
Related Articles: