r/phlebotomy

I know it’s not a bad thing, but I definitely feel like the outlier here. I work in a hospital so we go all over the place and eventually when you’re having to ask nurses to pause IV or see about adjusting the time on a lab, you get to know people.

I guess I’m just wondering if anyone else is like this? I work in Idaho, so patients and nurses alike love the personalization and how I’m always trying to memorize people’s names. But I feel like I’m the only phlebotomist who tries to do this! All of my coworkers definitely know a few of the nurses, but I’m always stopping to thank EVS workers or CNAs.

I know it’s not a bad thing to be personal with people, but does anyone else do this? I mean, I literally made fudge for the mother/baby unit today lol. Idk, maybe it has something to do with the set up and how every hospital is different, too but why don’t we maybe try to learn people’s names more? Making friends with the nurses is never a bad thing.

So if you’re a super friendly phlebotomist as well, please drop a comment!!

I’ve been with my current lab company for a year and a half, and I’m officially at my breaking point.

For context, we all work solo stations. We aren't just drawing blood; we have to handle all the insurance eligibility and front-end paperwork ourselves. It’s a lot to manage alone, but I’ve made it work at my assigned site.

However, for the past month, my supervisor has been texting me almost every single morning—always last minute—telling me to go cover a different location because we’re "short-staffed." The location she sends me to is a nightmare. It’s chronically busy, disorganized, and completely overwhelming to handle solo.

The worst part? When I finally get back to my original location, the patients there are angry at me for not being around. I actually had a patient file a complaint because I wasn’t at my post. When I told my supervisor about the complaint, she just shrugged it off and said, "we're short on workers."

The pay is already bottom-tier, and with gas prices what they are right now, driving back and forth is eating my entire paycheck.

This morning was the final straw. She texted me last minute (again) to cover. I told her I was already on my way to my scheduled site. Her only response? "pls help ty."

I finally said no. I’m not doing it anymore. Between the lack of support, the constant stress of doing two jobs at once, and a supervisor who thinks a "pls help" text makes up for poor management, I’m ready to hand in my notice.

And I won't be surprised if she asks me to cover at another location again this week..

Has anyone else dealt with this kind of "solo station" burnout? How do you even handle the guilt of patients complaining when it’s literally not your fault you were reassigned. Should I put in my two weeks? I know its already difficult getting a job right now as it is...

Any advice would be appreciated

Let us know your favorite test you drew this past week.

Favorite color tube? Let us know. Favorite patient? (PLS KEEP HIPAA IN MIND!)

I'm in phlebotomy school right now and we've started practicing on each other. My partner volunteered to let me practice on them at home because they're "not afraid of needles" (their words, not mine). Anyway I missed the vein. Twice. They were cool about it, but now every time I mention anything about class they're like "remember that time you stabbed me and got nothing?" 

So I guess my question is - how long did it take you to feel confident enough that you weren't guessing where the vein was? Because right now I feel great with the fake arms but people are a whole different thing.

Hey All,

As the title says, starting in two weeks I’m taking 12 weeks of leave for mental health reasons. I work for the biggest lab company in the US as a float phlebotomist. I’ve been with the company for coming up on 2 years. After countless weeks pulling 55 hours, being put in unsafe situations and being told to deal with it, and generally just being taken advantage of, I’ve had enough.

It’s gotten to the point where I go to bed anxious every night anticipating a call at 5am telling me to travel to a site to work by myself and see 80+ patients in a day. I do not make enough money to deal with this bullshit. I am seriously disappointed with my company and I others the field in general. I cannot believe I allowed this treatment to happen to me for nearly 2 years and accepted it because I genuinely thought I would not be able to get a better paying job in the field.

I hope this leave will allow me to work on my mental health and figure out what my next steps are. I may have to leave the field entirely.

Anyone out there that is putting up with unacceptable treatment from your company, you have more options than you think. Have a great summer everyone.

I feel like it should be illegal to make an old broom closet a lab with no working AC. It’s 12pm and already 80°F/26°C in here.

I have a single vent. It’s old and doesn’t work. You step outside my room, it’s a nice 70°F. They won’t do anything about it. And it’s only going to get worse when it gets to be 100°F outside. I guarantee it’ll be that hot in my lab.

I have tiny fan, but it doesn’t do much. I have a tiny lab, no space for a big fan… I’m always miserable and my scrubs are always soaked in sweat.

As I was scavenging the internet for jobs as a phlebotomist I saw the Kaiser specifically had an open position for ER techs and the only licensing requirement was a CPT. This was in the Bay Area btw. But this got me thinking can phlebotomists be ER techs or is it by different for every hospitals. Thanks.

Hi, I’m still really new to all of this and trying to understand how people usually get started in this field.

I was thinking about doing an online dialysis technician program first, then applying to DaVita and hopefully getting the hands-on training/clinical hours there after getting hired.

My goal would eventually be to get CCHT certified, but I’m honestly still confused about how that whole process works. Some online programs say they prepare you for CCHT and some just give a certificate, so I’m not really sure what I should be looking for.

Does it matter what state the online school is in?
And is it realistic to do the clinical part through employer training later on?

I’d really appreciate any advice from people already working in dialysis because right now I’m just trying to understand the best path before spending money on a program.

Hi so this might be a really dumb question but i’m someone who overthinks absolutely everything. Monday i am starting my new job as a phlebotomist in a hospital. I am planning on bringing my work bag and a lunchbox but where do i keep my wallet keys and phone? do i put them in my scrub pockets or is there locker cubbies. Do i keep my phone with me or never store it on my person? Thank you for answering

hello!

so i got my NHA PT certification a while back but when it came to renewal i totally forgot to do it mostly because i didn’t have the money at the time. getting a PT job was almost impossible for me, i have no gained a good amount of hospital hours (different job) and feel more confident to apply. i have looked back to see what reinstatement looks like and im so bummed about the process and pricing. i know it’s my fault and i regret not paying it in the first place a lot. has anyone had the same experience at all?

Hi everyone, I’m currently in grade 12 looking to go into medicine and understand that gaining clinical hours is vital to presenting a good application but also understand if medicine is right for me or not. I currently volunteer at a hospital but I don’t really have much patient interaction (I work as a Wayfinder).

I always see people becoming EMTs, phlebotomists, or lab assistants because there you can actually gain clinical experience. However, I’m confused on the path of becoming one. They all require certifications which in the schools I am looking at are over a year long. It just doesn’t make sense how I am supposed to balance my regular classes for my major next year and have to also go to another university to become certified as an EMT for example. Am I looking at something wrong? I would also appreciate if anyone could explain their journey of getting one of these roles. Thank you!

I have my first Phlebotomy interview coming up and it's at a big hospital that I really want to work at. My only problem is that I have never interviewed in health care before so I'm really not sure what sort of questions they will ask. If anyone has a good idea of what questions typically get asked at Phlebotomy interviews, it will really help me out.

My sister is finishing up her Phlebotomy program at a college near her. I'm her resume guy so I was looking at entry-level positions for her and I came across Biolife. I donated plasma in college so I know it's high turnover, probably not great work, etc..

What I'm curious about is the Entry-Level Phlebotomist jobs that are posted don't list a Phlebotomy certificate as part of the requirements. What's up with that? Shouldn't something like that be clearly listed in the requirements or is it more of a "phlebotomist" job where you don't need a certificate because you're not doing actual phlebotomy?

I'm an MA who used to do phlebotomy, and we have LabCorp send a phlebotomist on our busiest days of the week. But the rest of the days the MAs usually do it, so we kind of need to know how to do it but not super frequently.

I was with a newer MA this week and was asked to train her on blood draws. Great - I love teaching people! After going over a bunch of things (including what happens when you blow a vein and how to recognize it) I decided to let her draw from me.

This was her first time drawing from a person, so she was super nervous but she did great. But when she cleaned the vein and positioned her needle I could tell she was just to the left of it, and that she was either going to miss it or blow it. A few seconds in I saw she had blown the vein and calmly told her to stop, pop the tourniquet, withdraw the needle, and apply gauze.

I told her that she had blown the vein just because I wanted he to be able to recognize what happens. Part of me wishes I had just let her finish the draw and never told her (even though it HURTS today) because I'm really afraid I've scared her from drawing blood anymore. I told her that she did great and we practiced the steps of blood draw a few more times, but she kept apologizing and I kept trying to reassure her that she did great and told her she does not need to apologize at all.

How can I try to get her familiar with blood draws again?? I'm usually the only MA in the office otherwise I would just let her draw on me again. What can I say to encourage her to not be afraid of draws? I feel terrible!!

Hi my fellow vamps! I am a CPT 1 practicing in California, I currently work as a Tech Aide at an imaging facility. I’ve held my license for 2yrs but didn’t get my first phleb position(this facility) in those two years. I’ve been working at this facility for 5 months, they onboarded me with my CDPH license only. My NHA renewal date has passed so to renew it now would be $400. I didn’t renew it because I was broke and my mentor who is a phlebotomist of 10yrs told me I didn’t necessarily NEED my NHA. He explained renewing my NHA is only REQUIRED if I plan to practice out of state or if a workplace requires it.

Basically my question is, are phlebotomist with their NHA and CDPH licenses allowed to place IV catheters in the state of California?

All the tech aides have their NHA and CDPH licenses. All tech aides at this facility place IV catheters and push saline. This is what I’ve been doing for 5 months. This week they are not allowing me to place IVs because they are saying I need my NHA renewed. Higher ups told me having both licenses allows me to place IVs…which is not true. So what do you all make of this??????

my phleb mentor tells me the facility doesn’t know what they’re talking about that it’s ridiculous to bring this up 5 MONTHS into employment 😭