Phlebotomy is the rapidly growing medical career trend in UK and if you are looking to acquire quality training for Phlebotomy here is the best way to discover where to go?

Phlebotomy is the act of drawing blood with either testing or transfusion. It’s a skill employed by physicians and lots of professionals in allied health fields, including medical assistants, paramedics, and clinical laboratory scientists. However most employers would rather employ certified professionals. Medical care is a rapidly expanding industry, plus a new professional, the certified phlebotomist, reduces the workload of doctors and nurses by focusing exclusively on blood collection, particularly in hospitals and blood drives. Maxis health care offers The Amazingly Simple Phlebotomy Competency Certification Course That’s Helping Dozens of Men and Women Achieve Their Dream Of Becoming a Phlebotomist.  The amazing course is split into 2 Parts. Part I is Theory & Dry Lab Training. You’ll Learn Phlebotomy Basics & Practice on Mannequins. Part II of the course is in a medical facility where you take bloods from real patients under supervision. Receive a CERTIFICATE OF COMPETENCY when you pass. Courses meet All 18 NHS Competencies recommended by the NHS Skills for Health Organizations, National Occupational Standards & ‘Pathway to Competency’. Course material has been developed by NHS senior phlebotomists. Maxis health care is The First & Only Phlebotomy Training Company in the UK to Offer Students a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee You Can Bank On. Here’s a promise that No-One (!!!) else in the whole Phlebotomy Training business offers… We want you to know that all risk is on us and you have nothing to worry about. We stand firm behind our standard of training because we have had so many success stories. We take over 99% of students all the way from having Zero Knowledge to becoming Competent in Phlebotomy, even enough to go and get a phlebotomist job. Now state sections of well being services are trying to find phlebotomists. So, receiving a certification may offer you an excellent career.  We are 100% interested in your satisfaction and positive experience so we put our money where our mouth is.

Maxis Healthcare established since 2005, and offer courses for medical and non medical students. We at Maxis are passionate about giving people the essential practical and theoretical experience and knowledge so they can develop new careers or develop their existing career paths. This philosophy is reflected in our training modules which combine real life work experience with classroom education. We achieve this by hiring the right teachers and trainers specialized and experienced in the skills they are training, and then working together with these trainers to develop course modules that are wrapped around the most essential skills needed to become ‘outstanding’ in that job. Our premier course “1 Day Fast Track Intensive Phlebotomy” is taught by practitioners who are practicing phlebotomy within the NHS on a daily basis and the entire course was developed with their input.

For more details about Maxis health care and phlebotomy training log on to http://www.phlebotomy.org.uk

Evacuated Collection Tubes are designed to fill with a predetermined volume of blood by vacuum. Various sizes are available. Blood should never be poured from one tube to another since the tubes can have different additives or coatings. The test tubes are covered with a color-coded plastic cap. They include additives that mix with the blood when collected, and the color of the tube’s plastic cap indicates which additives that tube contains.

The additives may include anticoagulants (EDTA, sodium citrate, and heparin) or a gel with intermediate density between blood cells and serum. Some tubes contain substances that preserve certain chemicals or substances within the blood, such as glucose. When the serum separator tube is centrifuged, the blood cells sink to the bottom of the tube, are covered by a layer of the gel, and the serum is left on top. The gel enables the tube to be tipped upside-down and transported without the blood cells remixing with the serum. When a tube that does not contain gel or a clotting agent is centrifuged, the clear liquid is plasma, which contains platelets.

Manufacturers standardize the colors for additives in collection tubes for Phlebotomy. Gold or ‘Tiger’ Red/Black top: Used in chemistry, immunology and serology determinations. Contain clot activator and gel for serum separation, and no other additives. Orange or Grey/Yellow ‘Tiger’ Top: Used for STAT serum testing. Contain Thrombin, which is a rapid clot activator.

Green – Contains Sodium Heparin or Lithium Heparin, Inactivates thrombin and thromboplastin, used for plasma determinations, for lithium level, use sodium heparin, for ammonia level, use sodium or lithium heparin Light Green or Green/Gray ‘Tiger’: Plasma Separating Tube (PST) with Lithium heparin, anticoagulant is lithium heparin; Plasma is separated with PST gel at the bottom of the tube, Used in blood chemistry.

Purple or lavender: Purple tubes are used when whole blood is required for complete blood counts (CBC) and blood smears or blood typing, and screening in blood banking procedures. Tubes contain EDTA (the potassium salt of EDTA) which is a strong anticoagulant. To prevent clotting and platelet clumping full draw and mixing 8 times is required. Grey: Specifically used for blood glucose determination, requires full draw. Sodium fluoride and Potassium oxalate are present in the tubes. Glycolytic enzymes in the blood are inhibited by Fluoride so glucose is not used up during storage. Anticoagulant used is Oxalate.

Light blue: A reversible anticoagulant Sodium citrate in measured amount is present. Used for coagulation assays (Prothrombin time, Partial Thromboplastin Time). Full draw is essential since dilution factor with liquid citrate should be maintained. Dark Blue: anticoagulant sodium heparin is added, sometimes contain EDTA as an additive or contain no additive. These tubes are used for trace metal analysis and toxicology tests. Pink: contain Potassium EDTA similar to purple tubes, pink tubes are used for blood banking and Molecular/viral load testing .

Red tubes (glass): Tests for antibodies, chemistries, and drugs used these tubes as they contain no additives. Blood cells and serum is separated by centrifugation. Light yellow: Blood culture specimens use tubes which contain sodium polyanethol sulfonate (SPS). Acid-Citrate-Dextrose (ACD) as an additive is used for blood bank studies, HLA phenotyping, and parental testing. Tan: These tubes are certified not to contain lead, hence used for lead determinations. Tubes contain sodium heparin or potassium EDTA.

Phlebotomy training courses, in addition to teaching collection techniques, correct procedures and order of draw as specified by NCCLS, also prepare the phlebotomist for emergencies and help to understand proper laboratory procedures in order to avoid contamination or infection control requirements.

Phlebotomy, also known as venesection, is performed by a nurse or a technician known as a phlebotomist. Blood is usually taken from a vein in the upper forearm (antecubetal fossa) is most often chosen for venipuncture. Arterial blood is required for blood gas measurements. Smaller quantity of blood may be obtained from the capillary bed by puncture of the skin ” a capillary puncture or skin puncture. Capillary blood is often used for point of care tests (POCT).

Depending on the age and condition of the patient, there can be many methods used for blood collection from a vein. Choice of the best method depends also on the tests required and the equipment available to the phlebotomist. Veins from forearm, wrist, or ankle are generally used for venipuncture. Veins in forearm are commonly used since they are larger and more fuller. Cephalic, median cubital, and median basilic are the three main veins in the forearm, and usually the first choice in venipuncture is the median cubital vein if the forearm.

Blood is collected from an appropriate site using either syringe needle system, or an evacuated tube and needle system which were first introduced to market by a company called BD (Becton, Dickinson and company, BD Vacutainer system). For some collections from the back of wrist, syringe with a butterfly needle is used in combination with the evacuated tube method.

Vacutainer system makes use of a double ended hypodermic needle, and a holder covers the second short needle for safety. One end of the needle is inserted into the vein and the other end of the two-way needle is semi attached by a holder to the rubber stopper of vacuum tube. Blood rushes into the vacuum tube due to pressure difference between blood volume and vacuum in the tube. When the first tube gets filled with blood, it is removed and another can be filled in the same manner, thus multiple samples can be collected by single puncture. There are published standards for the use of vacutainer tubes for blood collection by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (formerly known as NCCLS).

For patients with difficult veins, a syringe and needle system is normally used. BD Vacutainer tubes are used for patients that have small delicate veins which may collapse under vacuum. For elderly patients, or patients with unreliable veins, babies, coagulation studies, obese patients with difficult veins, intravenous therapy patients with scarred veins, and for veins on wrist, back of hand, ankle, foot, or scalp, an infusion set (Butterfly) is used.

The duties as a phlebotomist of technicians vary depending on the workplace. In a hospital, the phlebotomists primary duty is to assist doctors. The technician also coordinates with nurses. One of the duties as a phlebotomist of a hospital technician is to take blood or tissue samples from patients.

The phlebotomist ensures that a patient is appropriately identified before samples are taken. Part of the hospital technicians duties as a phlebotomist is to correctly puncture or incise a patients skin to take specimens. The phlebotomist is responsible for the amount of blood or tissue taken should be enough for the specified test. Another aspect of the hospital technicians duties as a phlebotomist is that samples are properly labeled. The technician also ensures that properly labeled samples are delivered to the laboratory on time.

Phlebotomists can complete either on job training, cross train from another health care profession, or a formal program from phlebotomy training schools to attain these competencies. Phlebotomy certification from professional associations leads to skill refinement and continuous education for practicing phlebotomists.

As per the guidelines from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) several disease-specific precautionary policies for patients known to be or suspected of being infected with certain pathogens are recommended to be followed by phlebotomists. Universal standard precautions assume that all specimens are potentially infectious and should be handled accordingly.

Every direct contact with body fluid is infectious is the assumption in the Standard precautions. To prevent cross-transmission and exposure of the skin and mucous membranes to infectious microbes, avoid direct contact with patient specimens, and when contact is anticipated appropriate barrier precautions should be used ” this is the essential element of standard precautions.

Every phlebotomist should exercise certain consistent precautions on a routine basis. These standard precautions recognize the infectious potential of any patient specimen and prevent cross-transmission of infectious disease to patients and the protect laboratory personnel from infected patients.

Potential exposure to HBV is prevented by recommended use of a licensed inactivated vaccine (HB). As a precautionary step for persons who are at a greater risk for Hepatitis B infection i.e. clinical laboratory workers, phlebotomists, and pathologists, use of this vaccine is recommended by CDCs advisory committee on immunization practices.

Phlebotomists working with blood specimens should follow safe work practices to eliminate the risk of transmitting infectious pathogens like:

- To disrupt transmission of infectious pathogens frequent hand washing according to the procedure – Eating, drinking, smoking should be prohibited in lab area. – Gloves, gowns, lab coats, masks, eye protectors, etc. Personal Protective Equipment used as required – Clean up any infectious fluids/blood spills immediately and minimize aerosolization – Waste disposal measures as recommended by OSHA and NCCLS are followed. Puncture”resistant sharps containers are used to dispose disposable syringes and needles, scalpel blades, and other sharp items. – Needles should not be recapped by hand, purposely bent or broken by hand, removed from disposable syringes, or otherwise manipulated by hand to prevent needle stick injuries. – Prophylactic measures for pre-exposure and post-exposure for handling potential occupational transmission of certain pathogens should be known by phlebotomist.

The knowledge of general safety regulations governing the clinical laboratory, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) mandated plans for chemical hygiene and for occupational exposure to blood-borne pathogens, the importance of safety manual, and general emergency procedures is mandatory for a professional phlebotomist.

The disposal of sharps has always been a hazardous procedure for all health care staff. It is important to be aware of the risks involved in venipuncture. It is recommended that all health care professionals who carry out the procedure should be properly trained and makes use of a closed system-letting device, e.g. Vacutainers.

Case of a needle stick injury should be handled by following:

- Encourage bleeding from the affected site – Wash the injured area or irrigate with water or normal saline as appropriate – Cover with a suitable dressing – Record the patients name and ID – Complete an accident form – Inform immediate manager – Go to Occupational Health, GP or Accident and Emergency Department as appropriate

All the necessary techniques and procedures needed to be a competent and skilled phlebotomist are taught by accredited phlebotomist technician programs. Phlebotomy programs cover the subjects like: Anatomy and physiology, Blood and cell composition, Blood sampling procedures, and laboratory safety, and CPR procedures. Professional behavior, Quality control, Legal issues, Computer training are other courses which may be included in phlebotomy training program. Depending on the regulations and training for work settings each phlebotomy training school offers something different.

The art of drawing blood from the veins in the human body is defined as venipuncture. You will need to have proper venipuncture training in order to draw the blood sample and the professional who does it in most cases is the phlebotomist. The blood sample that is collected is used for the purpose of detection and monitoring. You will need to learn the specialized skills of venipuncture and cannulation with due practice which is supported by theoretical knowledge.

If you are interested in Venipuncture training, you should go in for Certificate of competence in Phlebotomy. In Venipuncture training, you will learn how to use basic equipment, various techniques of puncture, complication etc. A good School of phlebotomy will teach you,

*Precautions to observe during the procedure *Preparatory phases *Human anatomy and physiology *Various equipment and supplies used for puncture, blood collection and recording *Various Venipuncture techniques yet recorded *Different ways in which patients react to venipuncture and occasional complications *Interventions to patient reactions and complications *Evaluation of results

These skills will help you gain confidence during the work and establish yourself. To master all techniques, Phlebotomy schools will organize demonstrations with help of experts in the field. These demonstrations will help you in understanding the theory very well. Most Phlebotomy tech schools organize training in hospitals, clinics and labs, where you will get to work with patients.

Phlebotomy certification includes detailed theory lessons in subjects like Anatomy, so that students are familiar with human body and can make sound judgments while working. Some Phlebotomy training schools use virtual reality training systems. This is of great help as you can always practice your technique before actually going in for the live puncture. You can acclimatize to the feeling of inserting needle in human body and vein structure of body. Pressure feedback and the reality of experience can be used to overcome any fear. One can get a Phlebotomy certificate only after getting properly trained in venipuncture. There are training aids as well, which can be used for practicing venipuncture. These aids consist of skin like material and different veins like tubes embedded. This can form a good aid for demonstration and training.

Quality training in venipuncture by a number of good schools in phlebotomy and any search in Google on the internet will yield good results. Choose a school that will provide accredited certification or a degree. You can also check their brochures which will have information about courses offered, duration and fees.

You can work while you study and the certifications will help you establish yourself in the health care sector.

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The Emerging Role of Nurses in GP Surgeries

Summary:

Many GP surgeries now provide patient care in early morning hours, evenings and on weekends.  While these newly expanded hours benefit patients, GPs are already overloaded and often overwhelmed.   It is therefore important to explore ways to maximise the functions of GP surgery support staff. One approach is to train nurses to perform phlebotomy services in house. This provides flexibility in coverage options and may provide advancement opportunities for ancillary staff. Further, since GP surgeries can receive up to £10,000 a year for providing phlebotomy services, there may be the potential to generate additional revenue.  This article outlines the case for delegating certain low-level tasks to support staff, the advantages of providing in house phlebotomy services, and how to properly evaluate phlebotomy training courses.

Given the recent government initiative to expand the hours and coverage of GP surgeries, work hours are considerably longer than before.  Recent statistics (January, 2009) from the UK Department of Health indicate that nearly 70% of GP practices in England are now offering extended hours.  These GP surgeries are providing patient service in early morning hours, as well as in the evenings and on weekends.  While this expansion of hours is certainly a benefit for patients, GPs are typically already overloaded and overwhelmed.  In addition, with longer service hours comes the daunting prospect of obtaining reliable, long-term coverage.  Since service shortfalls can negatively impact patients’ perceptions and experience regarding their quality of care, it is important to continually explore ways to maximise the functions of support staff, thereby providing some much needed relief for GPs.

Advantages of Providing In House Phlebotomy Services:

One approach to providing such relief is to provide structured, systematic phlebotomy training for nurses, or other ancillary staff members, which will enable these workers to competently perform phlebotomy services in house.  This can help off load GPs in larger groups who are already offering phlebotomy services, and can increase the service options of smaller GP groups not currently offering phlebotomy.  Since GP surgeries can receive up to £10,000 a year from the local government for providing in-house phlebotomy services to their patients, these smaller groups may realise additional revenue generation opportunities.  In addition, offering in house phlebotomy can create new promotional or career opportunities within the office’s existing employee group.   The trained support staff can either function as the primary providers of phlebotomy services, or provide back up or secondary coverage during peak periods.  This will serve to accelerate patient care and improve patient experience at the GP surgeries.

They key advantage in providing phlebotomy services in house is the better patient experience and patient reported outcomes. You will be able to tailor your service to your patients’ needs and in instances where there is already an existing provider, you will be able to supplement and provide cover for your patients when there are service shortfalls.

Nursing and phlebotomy jobs are looked upon with great respect these days. It is also a subject that creates deep interest and evokes a feeling of thrill and challenge in candidates. This is also the reason many new nursing courses have been introduced to assist those who want to work in a hospital. If you are serious about entering into the world of health care and offer dedicated services in this industry, taking up one of these courses will definitely help.

In case, your main intention is to grab a job as a nurse or a phlebotomist, then you need to focus more on core subjects such as science, math, and health related subjects. Nursing is a highly respectable and important job in the society. Hence, it is important to make up your mind thoroughly.

Pursuing education in phlebotomy and nursing field is not cakewalk. You would require emphasizing on obtaining relevant and dedicated knowledge from a reputed school, institution or college. Once you are determined to pursue nursing or phlebotomy as a career, look for some of the many nursing courses available these days, your major step towards pursuing your dream should be to find a reputed school. The most important thing to take care is that the nursing college or institute is registered and holds good name. Pursuing phlebotomy course from a non registered or unrecognized college may ruin your career. Understand that getting trained from an unrecognized college is equivalent to not getting trained at all. You will not be able to secure a good job via pursuing courses from such a college.

Make sure that you decide on a nursing/phlebotomy school that is also ready to offer you state of the art services, advanced courses and flexible time schedule. Most of the modern nursing, phlebotomy and paramedic training programs will cover basics such as blood pressure monitoring, taking note of vitals and a lot more. These courses are designed in a fashion to upgrade you with the latest techniques and procedures followed in the medical industry. Modern nursing courses and modules are created to help you work in a hospital efficiently.

Once you start off with the training, the whole procedure may seem to be time consuming and difficult too. The reason is that you require undergoing stringent paramedic training to gain expertise in your niche field. The best part about the training is that you would be considered for recruitments after successful completion. You may be employed immediately or a little later depending on your expertise and performance level as a student. Most of the students are judged according to their capability to work in a hospital.

Most people are under a notion that education at phlebotomy and nursing colleges need to be full time. However, this is not true. The courses are quite flexible these days. If you are unable to devote several hours in a day to pursue these courses, you can avail part time training programs available online these days. These courses have helped many housewives and professional to obtain authentic degrees in the field of nursing and phlebotomy without having to devote many hours or disturbing their daily schedules. Part time courses dedicated to nursing and phlebotomy training is an ideal fit for those who do not feel comfortable joining college and attending it on a regular basis. One of the best phlebotomy courses available in the UK is by Maxis Healthcare (www.phlebotomy.org.uk). This course includes both Theory and Live Bloods in a clinical environment and will lead to a Certificate of Competency.

It is pretty common these days for doctors to recommend a blood test to be done whenever you consult him. There are specialists who are trained in drawing blood from the body of the patient so that in the near future it can be send to the laboratories for the various tests. This whole process of getting blood form a patient is known as phlebotomy. This whole process of getting blood form a patient is known as phlebotomy. This is a very simple task but you will gain experience and mastery once you start practicing. To guide you through your career as a phlebotomist you should follow the phlebotomy tips.

The application of various medicinal practices gives a particular result during the time of analysis. One should follow certain tourniquets in phlebotomy to get the accurate result. Tourniquet is a device, which helps a patient to stop sudden bleeding; most of the phlebotomist apply this application made out of  a stick and a cloth. You will now get modified tourniquets with the surgeons. It is generally a compressed device which compresses the veins during the time of some surgery but it is applies in phlebotomy too.

Therapeutic phlebotomy is another term, which is used for the normal blood donation. You all must be fully acquainted with the notion as to what is blood donation. In therapeutic phlebotomy you can easily some blood in some camps or hospital without the any prescription form a doctor. The blood from your body shall be taken in the same procedure by checking the level of red cell and then your pressure shall be checked, if all these come to be normal you will be able to give blood

You should apply these phlebotomy tips to get the best result and save the life of the patient. Some of these vital tips, which you should follow, is:

• The first phlebotomy tips which you should keep in mind before injecting the needle is that you should check the vein and by touching it should come to know whether it is the perfect one or not. Well do not forget to wear your gloves before touching the patient’s body.
• At times you will find difficulty in finding veins on many hands of patients, you should not get worried this happens due to the thickness of the veins. Gradually you will gain mastery over it.
• You should remember and keep in mind of using the proper size of the needle with a size perfectly made for the tube. If you are taking blood samples from the hands of a patient, which is the usual place from where blood is drawn, never inject the huge injections like the 23 gauge needle with a 10ml tube. This will otherwise burst the vein and the patients might be taken to the hospitals.

The work of the phlebotomist is specially organized in the field of the health unit or in the health industry. There is an office on Labor statistics according to them the average rates of the phlebotomists vary from £8.00 – £12.00 per hour. Hence, the phlebotomy wages vary from institution to the kind of place the individual is working. The annual salary varies from £15,984 – £24,500 just by working 40 hours in a week. Well it is true that if you become bit experienced in the field, you enter into the competition, as the phlebotomy wages is not bad for the phlebotomists.

PHLEBOTOMY SKILLS

Phlebotomy skills are normally taken for granted by many people. In fact, in the UK today, there is no universal accreditation in Phlebotomy in the NHS. Yet, it is such and important skill which is necessary in so many areas of healthcare that it is important that all the aspects of Phlebotomy are taught in both Theory form as well as Practical Assessments on mannequins and Live Bloods on real patients. The Maxis Healthcare Phlebotomy Course is one of the very few courses in the UK which imparts the knowledge and skills of Phlebotomy to our students. Visit our website at phlebotomy.org.uk for more information as well as feedback from many of our students.

Phlebotomy is a skill that is highly sought after by many professionals. Paramedics and Ambulance staff will need to be able to perform phlebotomy and cannulation in able to resuscitate people in their homes or in public. This is a potentially life saving procedure especially when somebody is bleeding after an accident for example. Nurses will also benefit greatly in learning the basic skills of Phlebotomy. In many areas of nursing, both in primary care as well as in hospitals, the practice of phlebotomy and venepuncture is crucial in getting urgent blood tests done in order to treat a sick patient. Hospital Phlebotomists as well as outpatient phlebotomy clinics normally run only at specific times for routine blood taking and may not be always available for emergency or urgent blood tests. Also, relying on doctors to take blood is not always prudent as they may be tied up in other more urgent areas and not able to attend to take a blood sample. The ability to perform Phlebotomy as a nurse also gives you a skill set which differentiates you from your peers and gives you a higher profile in critical situations in the clinic and the ward.

In fact, Nursing Training and Nursing Courses do include practical Phlebotomy practical skills in their curriculum and this is normally taught inhouse. However, the exposure is normally quite limited and students may want to avail themselves of exeternal courses like the Maxis Healthcare Phlebotomy course which leads to a certification in Phlebotomy.

Many Doctors Surgeries and Clinics have phlebotomy clinics which are sometimes conducted by trained Phlebotomists. However, it is also quite common for their clinic staff like Health Care Assistants, Clinic Nurses and even Receptionists to have undergone Phlebotomy training. At Maxis Healthcare, we have trained quite a few HCAs and clinic staff in obtaining a Certificate of Competency in Phlebotomy which they have used to good effect.
Another important area where Phlebotomy skills can be useful is in the laboratory and research setting. Medical research is now a key part in advancing science and healthcare today and to achieve this, clinical trials are very important. Many clinical trials require the laboratory staff to perform Phlebotomy on the research volunteers. Many Laboratory staff will need to obtain a Certificate of Competency in Phlebotomy to be able to achieve this.

If you are interested in a career in Phlebotomy, you have made a good choice as there is a lot of opportunities in both the NHS and private sector. The job also allows flexibility in working hours. Starting salaries in the NHS are about £16k per annum and will rise with experience as well as job specifications. It is a skilled that can be taught effectively. We at Maxis Healthcare, will be able to offer you a tailor made course comprising Theory Lessons, Practice on Mannequins and finally, Live Bloods in a Phlebotomy Clinic which will enable you to achieve a Certificate of Competency.
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