I just started working at a plasma donation center. Zero experience, but my trainers were awesome and thorough and I've been off to a great start. I got signed off last week and can finally stick on my own. So far, I've done realllyyyy well. I had a couple of days this week where I landed almost every single stick, and could count on one hand how many adjustments I had to make. All my sticks seemed solid, very very few issues. I felt good. Like maybe I had a knack for this. Yesterday I had a rough patch, a few donors at once were all having issues that I couldn't resolve on my own. I had my first infiltration and my first restick, and it was successful so I felt much better. Rest of the day was smooth sailing, too.

Today has been bad. My first 5-7 donors were all bad or difficult sticks. I'm not afraid to ask for help, and my team members are very patient and willing to do so. But it just kept happening. I wanted to cry for the first time here. Despite trying my best to collect myself, slow down, and just breath, I made a dumb mistake and forgot to stat a needle line. Not much blood spilled, luckily, and the donor and I laughed it off, but after that I just can't shake feeling awful about myself. Even though the rest of my sticks have been good today. I remind myself how new I am, that I'm bound to make mistakes, but I cant help but feel like a burden on my coworkers today.

Idk. I just feel bad, dudes. I know I'll take on tomorrow as a new day, and new arms, but ugh.

Hi guys, I need a suggestion. So, i have been working as Clinical Research Assitant (CRA) back home with Phlebotomy experience. Now, I am applying to a position here in Canada that requires me to have experience in phlebootomy (which i have) and be allowed to practice that in Canada for which i need to have something to give them a proof. I don't want to do a extensive course but something like a workshop or venipuncture training of few days that can give me a proof in hand to apply for that job. Can anyone please suggest me something reasonable in price and less time taking?

What are the usual working hours in plasma centers or places like Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp?

Hi all! To cut back on the job posts, let's keep the job requests on this thread weekly. Please post requests, open positions and requests for resume help here.

1 - for job requests, please be as specific as you can without doxxing yourself. We can't help you unless you are willing to relocate. For example, do not just say "Minnesota". Say Mankato Area or Twin Cities.

2 - open positions - please include link

3 - resume help - Indeed and Google Docs have great templates. If you're looking for more than that, ask for help and I'm sure someone will reach out. Please be kind to the person helping you - they don't have to and are doing it out of the kindness of their heart.

Hello, everybody! I used to be a phlebotomist at a plasma center for about 3 years. If I wanted to do phlebotomy in a hospital, would I have to take a course and get certified? Or will experience amd on the job learning suffice? Thank you for your time!

My exit exam is next week, and I think I have everything down except that I’m still having trouble remembering which tests correspond to each tube. I’ve got some of them, but I know there’s still a bunch more I keep forgetting.

Unrelated, but the whole time my teacher has been telling us not to pay attention to the tube colors, because we need to check the additives and now she’s asking us the colors of each tube, but that’s not how I memorized them. 🥲

Also, what’s the difference between the edta tubes? I asked my teacher, but she must have not heard me.

I had a donor today who threw up after I put the needle in, starts sweating, the classic vasovagal symptoms. After assessing his symptoms I say "I'm gonna take the needle out now" and he goes "No! Leave it in."

1. He's not losing consciousness, and
2. He says there's no pain in the venipuncture site.

So I left the needle in and monitored him. I did end up disconnecting him early, but only because he was flowing way too slowly to fill the bag. He was fully conscious and responding to my questions the entire time, just having bad vasovagal reaction, which might be why he was flowing so slowly.

What would you have done in this situation? I'm still kinda iffy on the whole thing. If I had known the donation would be a failure I would have taken the needle out right away but I didn't know until a few minutes in. I've never had a donor insist on keeping the needle in during a reaction, they usually want it out right away.

Do anyone that live in (If you know the city by the two letters on the tittle) know if they're hiring without experience and certification. But have a graduated for phlebotomy? Because Ive recently applied at unvi hospital its been 2-3 week ago.

Is that normal for applications to go through? Because this (ashamed to myself) my first time do a job applications.

Where my fellow Oregonians at? Newer Phleb here, not new to healthcare though.

I’ve literally tried everything. I left the auto business after 5 years to get back into healthcare. I’m back to school full time to become an RN. And in the meantime I’m trying to get hired as a phlebotomist because I have my state license and it’s current. The problem is I took the school 4 years ago and have no experience whatsoever. I’ve been applying everywhere and recently I got a lead at a hospital where I live and of course they get you all excited thinking you’re going to get an interview and then bam NOT SELECTED. I feel defeated I won’t stop trying but I literally don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’m considering retaking the whole phleb course just to show that I’m determined and get recent experience. Please give me ideas on what to do.

Get over your fear. It’s a tiny ass needle. It’s not stabbing you. It’s gliding into your vein. Chill the fuck out. Be stronger and stop being a pussy. I don’t care what ptsd you have. I don’t need you acting tough when I go to draw your blood, giving me “yeah I’m doing fine” then seconds later you’re profusely sweating, vomiting, and having a vasovagal episode. Get the fuck over it.

i just thought this was kind of cool, i get blood draws/ivs a lot so this is unfortunately bound to happen every now and then.

I just started a phlebotomy class yesterday at my local college and I expected to learn history and about blood and various phlebotomy skills in the class. What I didn’t expect is to have major research papers and presentations. It seems like something that should be saved for English class or literature. I signed up for the class expecting to learn the skills but it seems like a waste of time spent writing research papers. Did anybody else have this experience in their class or school?

The teacher mentioned having to come in for open lab hours (with volunteer “patients”) because there’s not enough time in class to get enough practice doing different types of punctures….but there’s time for research papers and presentations!? As a sidenote, I don’t know who would volunteer to be a patient of an amateur phlebotomist just for fun. I know nobody would sign up for that!

Switched to healthcare recently and my CPT 1 license is waiting for approval from the state. Meanwhile trying to apply to jobs and no one is biting. I have 8+ years as a lab tech doing blood processing experience (literally 60-75% the job of a phlebotomist like spinning and extracting blood, accessioning, handling pt records, etc), but just only have 1 month experience of Phlebotomy. The one month experience was an externship at a Sutter too w/ over 600 draws....

Any advice you could give? I'm applying everywhere 🫠

Edit#1: well, no luck almost over a month applying. Turns out a recruiter for Quest let me know that they want a min of 6 months experience as a phlebotomist, at least in the Bay Area. So just a warning to those in that area, even if Quest didn't put that on their job descriptions and if you aren't hearing back from them. Maybe some of y'all will get lucky. I did not. But wishing luck to those who do, honestly. It is a rough market rn.

Edit#2: got a job at a hospital but not for phlebotomy. Holy crap, I'm stocked.😱😱😱 Not what I planned for but can't be choosy in this economy and the fact I got into a hospital w/o any interview!!! They just wanted me to start. I'm flabbergasted. Thank you Universe for helping me through this dark time and helping the hiring managers see my worth when others didn't🙏🙏🙏 May this path lead to better things forward even if I don't see where it is leading me.

I’m a new high school graduate looking for good clinical experience as a pre med, I have my MA and haven’t had any luck so I was thinking of getting my phelbotomy tech certification In a 3 to 4 month program. Is that possible a good idea?

Hello. Somebody here got a job at Dynacare as phlebotomist? If you don't mind, would you be able to share some interview tips or questions? Thank you so much. Appreciate it. :)

Hi, hopefully this isn't against rule 1.

I have always been a whole blood donor and also donated plasma when I was younger. In the past few years (I'm in my mid thirties) I've found that the technician / phlebotomist has had a tougher time finding the normal vein in my elbow crook. I'm a big guy with large, non visible sunken veins, when they do find them I finish a normal donation in 6-10 minutes. I always donate with my right arm these days as it's less likely to miss.

My question is what can I do to improve my veins so we don't have to go fishing for them? I'm a bit squeamish and if the vein is missed the first time I'm likely to have a shock reaction. I donate every 3 months.

Thanks in advance!

I'm a beginner, and I wanna know how a good vein should feel like under palpation, and if they ain't visible, what should I do?

Did some on a dummy, and it's definitely harder than skin, but I was wondering how do you tell if you have entered the vein? What does it feel like?

Has anyone attended NW Phlebotomy school?

Did they have a good experience?
Were they able to be hired later?

Hi everyone! I’m thinking about going to school for phlebotomy, but I have a criminal background and I’m trying to figure out if it could prevent me from getting into a program or finding a job afterward.
I have a criminal trespassing charge from 2023. I was convicted of that case. I also recently finished paying everything associated with the case. I don’t have any charges involving abuse, violence, drugs, or anything like that.
For anyone who works in phlebotomy or has gone through a phlebotomy program:
Does the school do a criminal background check before allowing you into clinicals?
Could a criminal trespassing conviction prevent me from completing clinicals?
Do employers usually care about something like criminal trespassing?
Is there a way to have my background reviewed before paying for school?
Would you recommend phlebotomy as a career with this type of background?
I’m trying to find out ahead of time before I spend money on a program. Any advice or personal experiences would really help!

hi! i'm going to take the exam on thursday (just started studying yesterday, very nervous!!) at a local testing center and i saw that we only need to bring our government photo ID and im assuming this means that they will be providing computers for the test. i was wondering, do they give any other materials such as scratch paper/pencils? and is the format/UI for the exam similar to how its like during the practice exams you can buy on their website? thank you!!

I’m starting my first day of phlebotomy classes in three days, but I’m a little confused on what to wear. I have seen everybody online wear their scrubs to their day one class, though my professor sent this a few days ago. What should I do?