A phlebotomist is an individual trained to draw blood either for laboratory tests or for blood donations. It is a skill that most physicians and many professionals in the health field, including nurses, medical assistants and clinical laboratory scientists must employ. Having a phlebotomist licensing will help reduce the workload of doctors and nurses by focusing exclusively on blood collection, especially in hospitals and blood drives. From this point of view, most countries are working towards more standardized training including phlebotomist licensing and certification.
In the UK no special phlebotomist licensing is required and all you have to do is train often on the job. In New Zeeland, phlebotomists must have a high school degree and First Aid Certificate and all the other skills that they will learn by practicing their job. In Australia, the phlebotomist licensing is heading towards a minimum requirement of Cert III in Phlebotomy, which must be from a national accredited course, because employers have already started to look for this in the applicants resume. The further skills will be learned on the job and supplied by the employers. In order to set a benchmark for Phlebotomists annual competencies/assessments are being carried out by some leading Pathology services.
In the USA, the requirements to become a phlebotomist vary from state to state and currently California is the only state that requires certain specialization and phlebotomist licensing. Phlebotomists can be certified upon examination by a number of agencies, including the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP), the American Medical Technologists (AMT) and the American Association of Medical Personnel (AAMP). Of all the institutions where you can get a certification, the ASCP has the most stringent requirements. |
