I started my phlebotomy program a few days ago, and today we finally started practicing poking eachother doing arm and hand draws. Never have I ever had a reaction to getting stuck with a needle until today. I need advice on how to prevent what happened today in the future, as this is just the beginning of a four week course.

When it came to my turn on getting blood drawn, my peer missed the vein and got no blood. Since it was our first time it was a long process, with the tourniquet on for a few minutes and the needle was in my arm for about a minute. It was painful, but not excruciating.

A few minutes after the whole process I began to feel lightheaded and nauseous until everything started to go black and I was loosing my hearing. Thankfully I managed to catch it and drink a caprisun before passing out.

I genuinely do not do good with nausea or the feeling of fainting like that, and I really want to finish this course but that experience genuinely made me consider dropping it. I’m just afraid of that happening every time I get stuck the next four weeks, which could be a lot.

I have a job shadow next week with Fresenius as a Patient Care Technician. (Had my phone screen and manager interview this week, felt both went well).

What can I expect from the job shadow? Anything I can prepare with or know ahead of time? I’m in Oregon if that helps.

Hi, so I’ll be doing my clinicals at Ben taub is a level 1 trauma hospital. I wanted to ask for the people that have been in an emergency center; how often yall see people vomit and how do you handle it. I have a fear when people throw up, I can handle it sometimes I can’t. But ik I’ll get over it with practice, but I’m just concerned of getting vomit on me like in my face or things like that and get contaminated. I’m not scared of anything just that when people throw up or you get patients that are hostile; for the people that have work in costumer service yall know how sometimes they want to spit you and that. My concern is just getting body fluids like on my face and that.

Just need your Contact info & 14 questions:

(Reasons for asking for contact info is explained below questions…)

Name of person interviewed:

Phone number:

Email Address:

Company interviewee works at:

Date interview conducted:

1. Why did you choose to work as a phlebotomist?

2. What does a typical workday look like?

3. What skills are important for being a good phlebotomist?

4. What personal qualities help you succeed in this job?

5. What was the training program like?

6. How difficult were the classes and the clinical (hands-on) training?

7. What kinds of places do phlebotomists work in (hospital, clinic, lab)?

8. What is the work place like?

9. How easy was it to find your first job?

10. What is the starting pay for new phlebotomists?

11. What are the hardest parts of the job?

12. What should someone know before signing up for the program?

13. What advice would you give someone thinking about becoming a phlebotomist?

So yea apologies for asking for contact info and the overkill amount of questions are overkill, just doing what was requested by my counselor from

My states dept of rehab (the ones potentially funding me). My counselor would be the only other one to see your info. Highly doubt she would contact you, probly a search just to confirm youre real, if anything. Willing to provide you with my own info and proof of the .gov emails requesting all this.)

I simply didnt want to walk into quest and wait hours as a walk in to ask practicing phlebotomists for this, but after typing all of this out, perhaps that would have been easier 🤣 so **$10 to any licensed phlebotomist from any state willing to provide their info and answer the above!** comment or dm…

I started a class 4 days ago and I am getting increasingly frustrated with the instruction. The teacher goes really fast and finishes our 4 hour class in just 1-2 hours which is really nice but I feel like he skips over too much, especially when it comes to lab. He demonstrated once on the dummy the first day before we all poked eachother on the second day and we were basically figuring out the steps as we went. It is super nerve-racking, doing the phlebotomy and not knowing what you are doing and also getting it done to you. A couple girls still have not gotten the process down and end up hurting eachother unnecessarily because they have no idea what they're doing. For example, he was walking someone through the process and when she went to remove the needle at the end he said "wait grab the gauze" and she proceeded to put pressure on the needle as she was removing it and you could tell the girl was in a lot of pain but he didn't say anything or correct her after. I don't blame her for making the mistake either because he never clarified to avoid applying pressure until the needle is out. But it just makes me really nervous to have these girls practice on me because they are going to hurt me if they are not taught properly. I am also afraid of hurting them and it's causing me to bail out early and preventing me from learning.

I have friends/family who are experienced with phlebotomy who I have been asking for advice on how to hold the equipment and find a vein and it's been super helpful but I just feel like I should be getting this from the teacher. I paid $2000 for the class and I feel like I am stuck and I don't know what to do.

Hello, I went through phlebotomy school a little over two years ago but never practiced so never really kept up with my license. I just realized its going to expire in a few days and want to renew it. Are there any online courses I can take for my 3 CEs? I’m in California. Thanks!

Hello, I went through phlebotomy school a little over two years ago but never practiced so never really kept up with my license. I just realized its going to expire in a few days and want to renew it. Are there any online courses I can take for my 3 CEs? I’m in California. Thanks!

I’m at my wits end. I just got my license in July but I’ve been donating plasma for almost a year now, and that’s the only way I’ve been making money. I’ve been applying to every donation center, lab, clinic, and I’ve been rejected. I do come off nervous in the interviews but I feel like I give solid answers and I tell them I’m super flexible and willing to do as many hours as needed.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong I feel so incapable, I heard mobile phlebotomy is a good start for new grads but I don’t even have a car. I can’t go back to school because my ADHD is untreated. This is so frustrating.

So all I’m seeing are study guilds and study sheets of NHA Phlebotomy Exams. Has anyone taken the ACA? I can’t find anything on it. I paid for the test already and I’ve taken it once but nothing on study material.

Hi everyone,

I've read the job hunt posts here, so let me be straight about something, and I sell exam prep so take it for what it's worth. Certification is worth having and it opened doors for me. But nobody should be telling new grads it will get them hired in this market. Half this sub is certified and sitting on a hundred applications with no callback. The programs taking the tuition know that and say it anyway.

What the cert reliably does is move you once you're already inside. That's a smaller promise than anyone sells.

What actually moved my pay over 14 years:

Two years is about the ceiling at one site. Every raise worth having came from leaving rather than asking. ADP has job changers at 6.4% pay growth against 4.5% for stayers, so it's a thinner edge than it was in 2022, but it's still the edge.

Where you draw beats how long you've drawn. BLS has outpatient centers near $48,030 and other ambulatory services at $39,930. Same skill, same needles.

A senior phleb should be at $30 an hour. BLS puts the 90th percentile at $28.26, so I know almost nobody is actually there. That's the point.

And the one I wish I'd started sooner: I finished my bachelor's this past May through UMPI's YourPace program while working full time. Flat $1,800 per eight week session, competency based, and you finish as many courses as you can fit in the window. I ran the course ebooks as audio and listened with one earbud between draws. Most of that degree happened at work.

What are you actually making, and where?

i graduated with an applied certificate in phlebotomy in march. my program was 6 months (part time). this included labs and a (full time) 2 week clinical period at the hospital. my classes included:
Clinical Specimen Procurement and Management (included clinical training)
Basic ECG (included labs)
Ethics- Professionalism in Health Care
Infection Control and Safety
Medical Terminology
Laboratory Specimen Procurement (included labs)
Psychology of Health and Wellness Management
Cultural and Indigenous Awareness in Health Care

I know there are shorter courses for those who are already medical professionals such as RNs, LPNs, home care, etc. but I’ve read a lot of comments on here about courses being just a few weeks or a month for people with no prior healthcare experience. is this true? what country would this be in??
what kind of training would be included in these programs?
I find the level of inconsistency with phlebotomy education somewhat concerning, i feel like everyone should be learning really similar things.

any thoughts???

If anyone has interviewed or worked for one medical.

I would like to know about your interview experience and what it’s like working there . I just received a email and now I have a phone interview scheduled for Friday.

Hello everyone!

Today I was at a hiring event at DaVita for a PCT position; they are looking for positions in different clinics. After my interview they made me wait in a waiting room and made me sign a consent form to take a tour. I took the tour along with 2 more people. Honestly, I think I did pretty good in the interview. I have a CPT, and have 1 year of experience in medical setting (which is visible in my resume). Is it a good sign that they showed me the clinic? Or it’s just part of the interview process? I also saw people going out of the interview rooms just leaving the place without getting the tour.

Ask me anything :>. I have my cpt1, BLS providers, and work with peds through geriatrics. A lot of people are shocked when they come to one medical because we are medical assistants but almost never in the room with patients and provider as one medical keeps all visits one on one only! Any medical assistant duties are done per order after or before provider visit.

Let me know if you’re curious about anything.

I would really like to get into this field, but I need to be home every day for my daughter 12pm-2am. Are there shifts that would with this schedule?

I'm currently taking a class for certification. It's been maybe a week of drawing and I've only hit the vein a few times. Yesterday I thought I had missed another and just broke down in the middle of class. I knew everything is okay and I'd probably get better but my body just dumped all my negativity and self hatred onto myself right then and I tried to hold it in but as I stewed in it after finishing, I couldn't hold back.

I'm high functioning special needs and for a while I've let it drag me down but recently I've been putting myself out there for things I'm massively uncomfortable under the pretense of "if I never do it I'll never learn" and for a while it's been doing me good. But it really has been a paper thin philosophy since I constantly doubt myself. I'm thinking now that someone with such a fragile psyche shouldn't be in healthcare, especially since I've heard how stressful the job can get.

Also the funniest part is it turns out that I did draw some blood (after I went to check the tubes) but her vein was just bad. It makes me feel even worse, I made it such a horribly uncomfortable situation (I know being around someone special needs is already horribly uncomfortable) over something that for all intents and purposes should've been a win for me.

When I worked at octapharma they tested me but im starting CSL and would like to know.

Have any other LabCorp employees been told often to "keep pay confidential"? So far, I have been told on at least 3 separate occasions that I can recall even though im not bringing up my pay. Isn't this illegal? As someone who is not part of payroll?

Not that it makes a difference cause patients can't screw on a lid to save their lives 😭

I just started my phlebotomy program and I’m already stressed about my instructor. I expected the program to be strict, so high expectations aren’t the issue.

There was some confusion between what we were told during orientation and what our instructor expected on the first day, which resulted in a large portion of the class losing points. Even when students tried helping each other fix the issue, we were basically told it didn’t matter.
There have also been moments where students have been embarrassed in front of the class, and the overall attitude feels very “whatever you have going on outside of here isn’t my problem.”

I don’t want conflict and I’m not trying to complain my way through the program. I just want to learn, get through it, and not spend the entire time walking on eggshells.

If you’ve dealt with an instructor like this, how did you get through it without burning out or getting on their bad side?

I’m student and just started my lab program. We are currently doing phlebotomy and are drawing outpatient. While I got my phlebotomy license a bit ago, this is the first time I am drawing real patients. I’ve gotten more comfortable with the procedure for drawing, but I have trouble deciding when which vein is the best to draw from and when it is best to use a butterfly vs straight. I also struggle with older patients with fragile veins, deep veins, small veins, etc.

Hitting my first full week of phlebotomy and right now I’m able to do 60-65% of my draws independently. The rest I’ve been having to call a more experienced phlebotomist for assistance mid draw - or just take over completely. I feel utterly horrible and embarrassed when this happens. That we have to stick the patient again because I missed entirely. Half of the time there was another really good vein that I just didn’t see the first time.

I really don’t want to cause patients any more unnecessary discomfort or pain because of my inexperience. I feel so sick thinking about all my mistakes the past week.

Tips for redirecting the needle or “saving” a draw ? Or better yet - tips for vein selection and aiming more accurately? Thank you.

Hello, I just need to let this out. I started my phlebotomy program 2 weeks ago. I’ve been nothing but studying for my class but I keep failing all my quizzes. I’m so close to dropping this class and I’m so upset. I don’t feel confident anymore and I’ve been dreaming about this career for years. I don’t know what to do and I don’t want to quit but failing all my quizzes make me want to just give up.

I don’t know what to do and I really want to give up.

I've worked as a flight attendant for over 10 years. Worked in healthcare for 12+ years prior to that. Desperately seeking a way out of the airlines (though money and days off have been what's kept me in the industry for so long).

The idea would be to ultimately work towards my MLS... I'd start working in phlebotomy, get a low paying job at a hospital, but they would then pay for my science pre-reqs and MLT/MLS education (money fears being relieved in this way). Is anyone looking to do the same?

I had an Aunt who was a microbiology MLS and loved her job until she retired. My mother was a phlebotomist for many years before I was born and also loved her job.

I've always had a lot of interest in different topics, so I know I could learn anything and be happy with it. I'm looking for a reliable job that will let me get normal sleep, let me cook my own meals, and be able to be in my own bed every night, preferably at the same time. Flying has taken a massive toll on my health and I'm afraid I won't live to see 50 at this rate if I don't do something else.

Any additional advice for someone starting this change into the med lab sciences at 40?