is it necessary to have medical background before taking a degree in phlebotomy?

Question

when i say phlebotomy, i don't just mean bloodletting and drawing blood! i mean like, analysing the blood for diagnosis and carrying out all the lab work needed in blood tests. good phlebotomists are also able to tell a lot simply by looking at the tube of blood.

Answer 1

When I was trained in phlebotomy they just handed us a basket with a bunch of tubes and needles, told us to remember to use the alcohol wipes, then showed us into a big room with about 100 people in it. "Go get 'em!" was all the training we got! hahahaha!

OK, that was about 30 years ago.

Later I became a fully trained medical technologist and did all kinds of blood analysis. That took a BS deree and a full year of on the job apprenticeship. But actual diagnosis of the blood diseases, etc was done by a pathologist or hematologist - an MD with special training in blood diseases.

Answer 2

You are confusing phlebotomy - which literally means "putting a hole in a vein" - with pathology, the branch of medicine that deals with laboratory medicine.

Phlebotomists draw the blood. That's it.

Lab techs run the blood samples. I imagine that a degree would be sufficient without any medical background.

The doctors in charge of labs have competed medical school and residency, and do have quite an extensive medical education.

Answer 3

I don't think so. The training programs seem quite brief, which is scary. The last person who took my blood was completely incompetent and finally had someone else finish the job. I guess practice makes perfect.

Answer 4

not really. In Oklahoma at least, most of the phlebs I know don't have a degree at all. It's more about being trained to do the job.

Answer 5

No, its no more dificult than being certified as a massage therapist, or hair stylist.

Answer 6

need not as u practise more w'd do.it's experience counts.