Phlebotomy Course

Phlebotomy Course Students

Most phlebotomy classes have about a 20:1 student/teacher ratio. There are typically a fair amount of students who are right out of high school and want a skill/profession but do not want to invest a lot of time or tuition to obtain the necessary skills. The other half of the class is usually made up of adults who don’t have a professional skill set but desire one.

Phlebotomy Curriculum

Typically phlebotomy is its own course. There are no prerequisites. Phlebotomy courses typically cover everything surrounding both blood collection and sample preparation. Students learn how to best obtain the needed sample and do so with inflicting the least amount of pain to the patient as possible. Phlebotomy students also learn how to prepare that sample after it is drawn for further analysis.

A general understanding of the body will be essential to becoming a good phlebotomist. However, there are some phlebotomy courses that are more specific to this field. Here is a general overview of some of the courses that you can expect to take.

Relaxation Techniques

This phlebotomy course is absolutely particular to phlebotomy. A lot of patients that you deal with will become squeamish at the sight or thought of blood, and many patients do not do well when they are having blood drawn. For this reason, you will be trained on how to handle these types of patients and how to employ some basic relaxation techniques, which can relieve the anxiety commonly associated with taking blood. Patient interaction and a good bedside manner are essential to becoming a valuable phlebotomist.

Phlebotomy Techniques

This part of the curriculum is designed to teach you the appropriate way to take blood from a patient and how to locate the vein. Doing well in this class will most definitely benefit you on the job. Most people have had blood taken at some point and have had to be poked several times before the phlebotomist found the vein. Not only is this stressful and painful for the patient, but it also compromises your ability to be effective in your job.

Blood Composition

This course is specific to the profession of phlebotomy, as well. As a phlebotomist, you will be preparing blood samples for laboratory testing and will be completing those laboratory tests. For this, you will need to have a firm command over blood composition. In order to produce an accurate result from a blood test, you need to understand this course thoroughly.

Laboratory Safety

Because you will be dealing with blood, it is important that no blood samples become cross-contaminated and that you do not become contaminated by a patient’s blood. This is why you will need to learn the laboratory safety rules associated with this career.

Internships

Many phlebotomy programs have requirements for externships, which are in actual healthcare settings. These externships involve students drawing blood on actual patients under supervision. Students participate in these following 80-100 hours of classroom work (lectures, etc), and gaining hands-on experience drawing blood on other classmates.