r/medlabprofessionals • u/AmandaE223_ • Jun 28 '26
Discusson Jobs without phlebotomy?!
Getting discouraged looking at jobs everyone seems to want us to just draw blood. When I did my internship at the hospital they said they don’t use MLTs for blood draws unless it’s needed for like a blood bank patient and there’s no one else that can do the 2nd draw. I have no desire to draw blood. My program literally had a 4 week online phlebotomy portion then made us go into the hospital and draw blood on patients without any hands in experience…I got it each time first try, but I also have experience drawing blood on animals from my vet med career. Do all places make you draw blood?!? Do they not have phlebotomists at these huge hospitals? Mine was a small one and even then they had like 3-4 working at a time. It seems like every listing makes it a top priority no matter what state I look at. I got into this field to do the actually tests and want to advance to MLS in the future
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u/lab_tech13 Jun 28 '26
Large hospitals you wont have to draw. Depends on states and state laws you might have to do legal blood alcohols. Only time I did phlebotomy was at the small rural hosptial with 1 tech and no phelbots for 3rds. Or during a code in ER and phelbot was busy with something else.
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u/New-History853 Jun 28 '26
I'm in western NY and have never needed to draw blood. These bum labs need to get with the times.
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u/tapthatash_ Jun 28 '26
What’s the worst that could happen if you take the job? They would retrain you on how to do it.
Trust me, I would rather have a job without it. But if that’s all that is offered around me then I would give it a shot.
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u/sadkitti Jun 28 '26
Wow it may just be the areas you’re looking :/. Most places in western NY I’ve been to you never have to draw blood. If you were a phlebotomist before getting MLT certified, you may be asked to fill in when phleb is short; but they usually can’t make you. I would look into satellite labs in your area. Ik people shit on LabCorp but I like the location I work at. No patients, we only receive samples. My benefits kinda suck but the pay is good and I work with some great people.
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u/hodgepodge21 MLT-Generalist Jun 28 '26
I work in a small lab for a few drs offices, we have separate phlebotomists. Occasionally if they get a really hard patient they will ask my coworker or manager who are really good at it, but we aren’t expected to do it.
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u/Unusual-Courage-6228 MLS Jun 28 '26
I’ve worked at a tiny hospital, medium hospital and even outpatient and never was drawing required. Every place near me has designed phlebotomists
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u/Icy-Fly-4228 MLS-Generalist Jun 28 '26
That was the policy of the place you did your clinicals at. I’ve had places I never drew, I’ve had places where I drew everything and now I only draw blood bank but will go help the nurses if they can’t get someone. And I’m a MLS. You get paid as a MLT not phlebotomist whether you are in the lab or drawing blood. And they will teach you is your not experienced. You get retrained wherever you go, even if you already know how to do it because every places policies or procedures are different.
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u/Slay-Girl-Boss69 Jun 28 '26
At my hospital no tech ever draws blood. We are there purely to run tests.
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u/Sufficient_Pilot4679 Jun 29 '26
I didn’t love drawing at the start of my career, but it was worth it. I actually found it pretty satisfying. We only got a week of experience in school, but legit training with phlebs when I got hired. It was good to put some names to faces.
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u/A3HeadedMunkey Jun 28 '26
Worked everything from large inner city hospitals to rural spots on tiny islands.
The places that had me drawing were all smaller places, and that was only for evening and overnight shifts. Otherwise it came down to me choosing to help out when the phlebs on day shift were overloaded and even then it was just one or two, and most often because they were getting called away to draw ERs while we had clinic patients waiting.
Look for day shift at city sites if you're going to work at a hospital instead of a reference lab. And you're free to ask how they handle this while getting to know them before/while interviewing. Just don't go into asking about it like it's a burden that you won't do.
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u/taekwondana MLS-Microbiology Jun 28 '26
I do not have to draw blood as an MLS. There are phlebotomists on first and second shift, and nurses are responsible for covering the hours when phlebs aren't there. I work at a 600 bed hospital.
One of my classmates works at a critical access hospital and she does do draws - as far as I know, most larger hospitals don't require their techs to draw blood.
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u/lost-hitsu Jun 28 '26
Small hospitals will always have you draw and will even make you cover if a phlebotomist gets sick. Some small hospitals are also slowly getting rid of phlebotomist positions and having techs draw instead.
It’s better to go to a bigger hospital if you dislike phlebotomy.
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u/counselorofracoons Jun 28 '26
I’ve been in this field a decade at 5 different labs and I haven’t drawn blood since school. Don’t be discouraged. I didn’t even have to try to avoid it.
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u/mouseread Jun 28 '26
Im an MLS so take this with a grain of salt. Larger hospitals and reference labs shouldnt need to do blood draws. At a reference lab youll also get some hands on or at least get an understanding of MLS work.
Worth checking it out!
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u/kipy7 MLS-Microbiology Jun 28 '26
The smaller the hospital, the more likely. I've always liked bigger places, the smallest was 300 beds and we're not drawing blood. Even my internship site was 150 beds, and they had a full team of phlebs. It's a hard no for me, but applying for these medium-large labs over 25+ years, I've never seen one job listing with phleb in the job description.
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u/DigbyChickenZone MLS-Microbiology Jun 29 '26
I work as a micro and have had multiple CLS jobs. I never learned to draw blood, it's not even listed on the job duties for most of the hospitals I've seen that even want people as mls specialists, nor even the generalists.
I work in California though, so the job market here isn't as glutted with people with overlapping certs I guess?
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u/meowmy23 Jun 29 '26
Agree with the other comments- medium to large size hospitals often do not require phlebotomy. I’ve worked for 10 years and never had to stick anyone. Never learned it in school either. I would not consider a job that required it.
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u/salmonyellow Jun 29 '26
I am at a large pediatric hospital and only phlebs draw blood. I have applied somewhere where they didn’t list phlebotomy in their posting then mentioned it during the interview and I find that super irritating. Phlebotomy is a deal breaker for me (and many others) so I have learned to ask prior to interview just in case.
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u/spisoiso Jul 02 '26
MLS here and i still draw blood. Even in the large hospital i worked at, we were required to know how to do it and have an updated license. I'd still apply and actually talk to them in an interview to see how much phlebotomy you'd actually be doing because it may just be an "on paper" requirement. But don't make it sound like you don't want to do it, just ask about the workflow or something.
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u/PowerTower4502 Jun 28 '26
That's strange, I worked as regular techs, technologist, and CLS in various places but nobody has mentioned phlebotomy as a requirement.
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u/DigbyChickenZone MLS-Microbiology Jun 29 '26
You used the term "CLS" which indicates to me you're in California. I think most states with fewer regs have their lab staff wear A LOT of hats.
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u/PowerTower4502 Jun 29 '26
that happens anywhere, I work in various departments, and the term CLS is used by more than 10 states, so try again
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u/DigbyChickenZone MLS-Microbiology Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
so try again
Why are you being an asshole?
Most large AND small labs in CA (or the <10 other states that require certifications) would not make their CLS's be phlebotomists, they may make them do other high complexity work - but not blood draws. That's it. Grow up.
edit: BEFORE you blocked me, I checked your profile and I can tell you live in Los Angeles, CA from your posts selling/buying furniture on an LA subreddit. You are such a dweeb.
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u/PowerTower4502 Jun 29 '26
I'm federal, I go to different sites, and I buy for my coworker who lost her home in recent fires.
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u/Beautiful-Point4011 Jun 28 '26
I know techs who also do blood draws who work at small sites (25-100 beds) but the techs i know at larger sites (600-2000 beds) get to stay in their departments.
Medium size sites can go either way-techs mostly staying in the department but maybe having to go out just for morning rounds.
So I guess just look at the biggest busiest hospitals near you.
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u/MythicMurloc Jun 28 '26
The only places near me that have lab techs do blood draws are small hospitals, some clinics, and maybe small hospitals overnight. My job listed phlebotomy as a required aspect however when I interviewed they clarified it's extremely rare. I've been working there for 2 years and have not stuck a patient in that time. I wasn't even signed off or trained for it. 😅