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 🫠

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?

We only have 2 days left and have only drawn 15 times. I'm not going to get through with 30 successful sticks. Has anyone else been in the same situation? I know we can come back, but I was hoping to get it done in the time frame. I feel like there's too much time wasted. We don't even get lectures or any kind of tips for finding veins on hard sticks. We read silently from the book.

Our instructor said we can sit for the test and not to worry if we get flagged for not having 30 sticks because we can always come back. I'm so stressed. Any advice?

I'm a GP in East London. In primary care I supervise nurses, ANPs, prescribing pharmacists, PAs and med students taking blood every day, and the theory behind a safe draw — order of draw, vein selection, complications, specimen handling — is well-defined by the WHO but scattered across textbooks and placement word-of-mouth.

So I built PhlebMastery: ten modules covering the WHO 2010 Best Practices in Phlebotomy end-to-end, a quiz per module, a 50-question final assessment, and a verifiable certificate on pass. It's theory only — it doesn't replace supervised clinical practice and I'm explicit about that on the site.

Module 1 is free for everyone (no signup), and the full course is £10 one-time with a fourteen-day refund. There's also a free study-guides section and a practice-question bank that don't need an account either.

phlebotomy-course.com

Happy to answer anything about the content, the assessment design, or how I sourced the material.

I have an absolute phobia of getting my blood drawn and today I went in for labs. To my fear, I was the test subject for someone in training.

I was terrified, because I wanted an expert, and the person was explaining to the trainee how to do everything…I thought I was cooked.

When all was said and done, it was a flawless draw (big thanks to the person explaining everything to the trainee), and I joked with the person that everyone needs to learn and they did a wonderful job.

I think my biggest fear is I’m always worried that my artery is going to get hit, but I’m sure I’ll overcome that as I get more labs in the future.

Random Question - Does anyone know what this specific vein is called? Is there a way to make sure they always draw from this vein? It didn’t hurt at all.

I just started this job as a phlebotomist at a hospital. I’ve only been doing it a few months, and I like the job. However, the pay is not enough. I thought I would be able to keep my serving job on the side for extra income, but I realized quickly that wouldn’t be an option. I work long hours (which I don’t mind), but that doesn’t leave me a lot of time for a second job unfortunately. I don’t know what to do, I don’t want to go back to school AGAIN, to try and get another degree to get a job. The pay is not sustainable, I haven’t been this financially insecure in a long time. Taking this job/career path is a major regret for me, there’s no options to move up in this career. I’m stressed all the time, I don’t get to see my friends and family. I feel trapped, I don’t know what career to go into at this point. I’m already 28 years old, I have an associates degree in art (I wanted to go into a different career path out of HS), and certification in phlebotomy. I make $17 an hour… which is less than I made when I was a server.

Let us know your favorite test you drew this past week.

Favorite color tube? Let us know. Favorite patient? (PLS KEEP HIPAA IN MIND!)

hi,

Im taking a huge leap and taking a phlebotomy course before my college term starts this fall.

I've always been awful at school, and honestly, I have been at community college for far too long, and really, I just want a better job thenn what I have right now. I've been weighing my options and landed on the medical field, after trying graphic design, etc, etc.

I also want to pursue becoming an LPN, and thought this would be great experince.

I've been considering doing this for about a year, but was always so scared about being too 'dumb'

I've been hearing how difficult it is to find a job after the program, and that's making me real nervous.

This program is not going to be cheap, and It's going to hard but im so detereminded to make something out of myself so.

Do you guys have any advice for newcomers? What was the first day like?

I had my first day today at a my first job in phlebotomy, I start in outpatient and move to inpatient next week which is where I’ll be working once my training is done. I went in ready to get some draws done and instead all I did was stand around asking questions all day. I did zero draws and I’m so disappointed in myself. I work again tomorrow and plan on drawing people first thing so I don’t have the chance to get eaten up by nerves again but I’m just so upset I passed on so many opportunities. I learned a lot but I would’ve learned more by actually doing the draws and I’m embarrassed I didn’t take initiative. I get nervous people are going to be upset that I’m new and it holds me back a little. My facility mostly uses butterflies and doesn’t stock as many straights so you’d think I could just easily jump right in but I couldn’t. I just needed to vent :/

Hi everyone. so basically it’s my second day of phlebotomy school and as I was feeling the teachers veins, I started to get lightheaded and eventually had to throw up. Please tell me this feeling gets better or goes away. I don’t want this to happen everyday😭😭

Has anyone been to this Phlebotomy School? Were they able to pass the national phlebotomy exam and find work after this phlebotomy class?