How to Learn Phlebotomy Procedures

Phlebotomy, or the procedure of making an incision into a vein in order to extract blood, is commonplace in U.S. doctor's offices and hospitals. Basic phlebotomy skills are essential for any individual who hopes to become a health professional, and phlebotomy is a basic medical procedure that can be learned easily on the job. Only California and Louisiana have state regulations for phlebotomists, but a long-term position in phlebotomy is unattainable without proper certification. If you want to go the extra mile and promote proper phlebotomy skills, here's one way of achieving this goal.

Things You'll Need

• High school diploma or GED equivalent
• Six months to one year of medical experience

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Instructions

• 1

  Find a school that specializes in phlebotomy certification. Many colleges and universities that offer medical programs also offer phlebotomy-certification courses. A phlebotomist can also earn certification through a number of medical societies, such as the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), the Association of Phlebotomy Technicians (APT) and the National Phlebotomy Association (NPA). These three different societies are all well-recognized, and each has different guidelines for certification. Contact these organizations if you need help finding a school or similar training program near you. When you have found a suitable institution, register for phlebotomy certification courses there.

• 2

  Focus during in-class training, especially the hands-on work. Because phlebotomy is mostly a motor skill, repetition is important in cementing the procedure in your head. During classes, take care to note how intensive the curriculum is. Anatomy, blood infections, blood sampling, blood collection, safety and CPR should be discussed thoroughly. If you notice that your curriculum is lacking in many of these, you may want to find a different course.

• 3

  Get plenty of hands-on experience in performing both skin punctures and venipunctures. A skin puncture is a proper incision through the skin tissue, while a venipuncture is the actual phlebotomist procedure of cutting into a vein. Many phlebotomy certifications require a certain number of successful procedures for both. Proper venipuncture and skin puncture techniques vary patient to patient based on a number of factors, especially age.

• 4

  Practice your competence at blood sampling and collecting. Much of modern phlebotomy is concerned with the collection of blood for testing purposes. A proper incision into the vein is rendered useless if sterile collection principles are not followed. Certification under the ASCP requires the successful completion of 100 unaided blood collections. Many certification schools and programs for phlebotomy mandate at least 100 hours of clinical, in-house experience, so opportunities to complete work will be plentiful.

• 5

  Motivate yourself to improve beyond certification. Once you have received your certification, which will allow you to earn phlebotomy positions, try to take as much work as you can in order to improve your ability. The more you are able to practice the principles and procedures of phlebotomy during work, the better work you will be able to perform.