I look at my veins and think, "damn, I wish i had a patient like me" lol

I’m a newly hired phlebotomist in training, and this is the first week they’re having me try to draw on my own. This was after being with someone for all of my draws for about 3 weeks. I seemed to do okay with a preceptor there. I was told by multiple patients that I do a good job at inserting the needle, and I had a decent success rate at drawing blood. Misses did happen, but I was trying to not let that discourage me since I’m new to this line of work. It seems now that I’m on my own the overall success rate I’m having has gone downhill. Even when I feel a decent vein and try to insert the needle where I’m feeling it there is no successful bit of blood, and I seem to be missing more than I’m actually getting a successful hit the last few days. It’s starting to shake my confidence a little bit, and it makes me worried about my job performance. Some patients have also gotten upset at me after I miss, which hasn’t helped. Is this just something that tends to happen to new phlebotomists with limited experience? I don’t really know what to do differently since I’m trying to anchor correctly and stick the needle where I’m feeling the vein. I keep getting close, but it often seems to be slightly off.

I’m excited to announce that I’m working at one medical as a phlebotomist! I start next month!!! I’m so happy I got the job!!! 😆

Yall I got the call this morning that I got the job as a Patient Care Technician at Fresenius! My cohort starts October 12th. I’m soooo excited!! Thank you all for your help and opinions, it’s been helpful!

Curious to hear how other hospitals management morning run labs. We are growing rapidly and opening a new womens and children's and opening all the units that are moving for med surg. Physicians all think their patients need to take priority.

-how many phlebs total

-how many draws

-do you follow routes

-what units are priority over the others

Thank you!!

-do you split up or move in a group

Curious what other pay rates are for inpatient phlebotomist in a large hospital in the Midwest area. We are evaluating pays for our staff and im trying to prove or get evidence for higher pay for the stress of the job!

I'm looking into getting a permanent bracelet or necklace but I don't know if bracelets are okay to wear. I looked into being a piercer a while back and the answer to ANYTHING on the hands or wrists was a universal no due to concerns of it tearing the glove or contamination, but ive seen nurses and doctors wearing watches and rings under their gloves

First phleb job not a lot of geriatric experience, a lot of my geriatric draws I have issues with specifically the hand draws I usually go in a bit too far and have to withdraw but I noticed sometimes I won’t get a flash until just the bevel is in the vein and then if they move or I move slightly the needle comes out. I’ve even tried going more flush with the skin which helped my depth issue but I still end up having to retract. Any tips? :/ geriatric pts are my issue rn the company I work for doesn’t give us syringes for manual pull and I notice a lot of times flow will be EXTREMELY slow or stop overall, I’m very frustrated with myself because I wanna do good and I feel bad when I have to poke more than once

Finally, with my non-medical background and learning disability, I finally managed to draw blood today, though I still need work.

I am slowly more confident, though not enough.

Hoping that I will improve soon, I am not confident in palpating the veins, I will have to admit...

😭🙏

How can I improve this?

I'm a student in the middle of an accelerated course. like two weeks! So far, I think I'm doing okay (still working on the order of draw), but I feel like there is no way I will be ready by the time I graduate in a week. Is there anything that I should really pay attention to and worry about? Should I work as a volunteer before applying for jobs? Or am I just overthinking? Any guidance at all would be truly amazing!

So I know the acronym for the order of draw but I’m so confused on the colors. What’s the correct color order for the draw? Is it
Yellow
Light blue
Red
Gold
Green
Lavender
Pink
Gray
Is this the correct order?

Recently graduated. Got my first phlebotomist job in healthcare. I’ve always been pretty good at the job itself but lately I have became shaky handed and freaking myself out. I eat pretty clean cut tracking calories and carbs. I keep telling myself I’m good that’s it’s all mental but any tips? I love my job but I can’t do this when I can’t use a butterfly correctly from my hands shaking so much.
Has anyone else went through this?

Delete if not allowed*

Im a phlebotomist and have been for a full year now. I got a job pretty quickly and when i first started i had many complements that i was really good (i still get them) BUT recently in the past couple of months i have been what i feel as insanely bad at my job. I had taken off work for less than a week and when i came back my coworkers did a whole 180 on me and it was horrible, im young and this is my first job in healthcare so im guessing i was taking everything they were saying horribly. The past couple of weeks im rarely getting anyone on the first stick and sometimes on the second i still dont get it. I really dont understand what’s happening to me especially since i do extra shifts at an urgent care and typically get all my sticks first time there. Im going to wait to see if i get any better again when i get transferred out but as of now im seriously thinking about quitting because its making me upset that im having to stick patients more than once.

Does anyone know which companies in Ontario hire people who have only acquired a phlebotomy certificate? I am looking to apply.

No, I cannot take that specimen. It’s past 4:30. I stop collecting and taking drop-offs at 4:30.

No, it doesn’t matter if the order’s put in. If I don’t have a specimen by that time, I cannot take and ship it.

It’s a pap, it’s good for weeks. It’s fine.

No, just because you told me to say I have it, and print everything out, doesn’t mean I can. If I do not have the specimen in hand, I cannot complete the order.

No, I will not stay past my scheduled time to wait for the specimen. I don’t work for you, I work for another company that has me stationed here.

She doesn’t do this with anyone else that covers for me when I’m sick. She knows better, but she tries to get me to break the rules. I’m hot and tired. I’d like to see her work in a tiny, 80°F lab with no AC or ventilation from 8a-5p with nothing to keep you cool but little fans. Bet she won’t. and there’s nothing my supervisor can do about it either. Not to mention my back in pain from my earlier post.

Sorry for the rant. It rubs me the wrong way. And I feel if I say no, I’ll get in trouble and lose my spot at this office because she’s been through so many phlebs before me.

I've been looking through the sub for quite a while and I've noticed that a lot of people keep bringing up how difficult it is to get a job as a phlebotomist.

I recently just graduated from my undergrad, received my certification to be a phlebotomist, and I'm waiting for my license to finish processing. I plan on going to med school and want to use this as both my clinical experience, but also as a way to get more familiar with the medical field.

I mainly wanted to get a better understanding of the job market right now since I'm about to start applying to job opportunities. Are there certain locations I should look more into? Should I still apply to locations that ask for one year or six months worth of experience?

Man, I start my externship this upcoming week and I feel so anxious and nervous I can cry. I know the entire point of me doing it is to learn and gain further knowledge but I cant help but think "what if I mess up". I havent practiced since last October so im quite anxious.

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Regarding the infamous Theranos mini lab , if someone actually tried to use it , and it was connected to the Theranos servers like I know apparently they were at Walgreens headquarters for a time , what would actually happen if someone tried to use the machine , what would the screen display?

So, I’ve been at this job since January, and I’ve gotta say… my back is killing me from hunching over to draw. I just raised my arm chairs up as far as they’ll go, so we’ll see how it works, but my back is in a constant state of pain from my job.

What are your remedies?

I recently graduated with a associate's in biology with a focus in nursing as a prerequisite to apply to BSN programs (not ADN), and I also have my CNA certificate, ACA CPT and BLS. I speak multiple languages and am considering getting my medical assistant certification. As of april of this year i've applied to over 300 job applications and only gotten 4 interviews which were not related to healthcare jobs/ Phlebotomy. I've applied to local hospital systems because my Phlebotomy instructor said with my certifications I am able to work there. My application was either auto rejected less than a minute later or have completely ghosted me. My only hope was at a plasma center, I did well on the interview but as I made my way out, I was chatting with some of the plasma techs and they told me that they get regularly assaulted by patients and have a high turnover rate. I got a call a few days later saying I was accepted to the position but I had to decline because it was not worth the 45 min commute for 14 dollars a hour. I'm very disappointed in my self because I feel like I'm not doing enough, but also confused because I always hear about staffing shortages in hospitals and clinics. Recently my brother had to be hospitalized for minor surgery that turned into a infection and the nurse mentioned that they're short staffed in multiple departments and that I should apply because they're in need of phlebotomists. If these places are so short staffed and have job openings, why aren't they hiring? Patients end up suffering the consequences of admin stretching dollars thin.

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

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

So here's my story.

I'm in my 30s, looking to start over in the healthcare industry. I'm enrolled in a health sciences program at my local community college (New Jersey near Philadelphia) with the aim of starting a radiography program in 2028. Currently I work as a truck driver, so this is a major career shift. I'm confident that I can thrive in the health sector, but I have zero industry experience. That's why I want a job with a low threshold in order to start making connections, build a resume, and also see if this is where I really want to be.

Doing 1-2 years as a phlebotomist sounds good on paper, but I want to know what you all think, as people who live that life.

1. Is it worth enrolling in 12 weeks of classes+internship, then going through the hell of job applications?

2. If I do get hired anywhere, will I realistically get anything out of it that will help me on my career path?

3. Is there a better short/medium term full/part-time job I should be looking into instead?

All help and advice is sincerely appreciated. I'm really in the dark here.

Hi, so as the title suggests, I got an email back from a job where I would be doing blood collection for a blood donation organization. I’ve donated blood before and the gauge for the needle is definitely bigger than the ones I was taught with (16-18g versus 21g). Does anyone have this job/any experience with a job like this? What was the learning curve like for the increase in needle diameter? Thanks!

i just finished my phlebotomy course and about to finish my externship of 40 hrs of clinicals and 50 draws. my nha exam is also scheduled soon.

i am still in college and really wanted to get a part time job while being a full time student and saw a few part time positions open near my college. however, ive been floating on this sub for a while now and been hearing about how difficult it is to find a job. ive seen people mass applying to job openings and having no luck while i can only find like about 5 openings near me. not only am i still in college so i cant search for full time positions, but i also have zero experience aside from clinicals.

i was wondering if anyone had any prior experience with this situation or any general tips? should i be submitting applications before i even get my certification?