Phlebotomist Characteristics

A phlebotomist is a professional individual who is trained to draw blood from patients. In order to draw blood effectively, phlebotomists are required to have five key qualities. These five qualities allow a phlebotomist to ensure that every task during the procedure is done properly. The five major qualities a professional successful phlebotomist should have are empathy, orientation to detail, hand-eye coordination, multitasking, and gets along with others. With these five personal traits, one can become a major success as a phlebotomist.

I believe the most important quality one should have being a phlebotomist is empathy. During my experience with Quest Diagnostics, most patients come to the lab because they recently got discharged from

inpatient and aren’t in the most pleasant mood. It is the phlebotomist’s job to ensure the quality of care they will receive and show our professionalism. It is essential that phlebotomists are caring and understanding towards a patient’s feelings so the patient feels as comfortable as possible. A phlebotomist without the quality of empathy can potentially stress out the patient or even get them more nervous.
The second most important value a phlebotomist should have is orientation to detail.

There are so many doctors’ requisitions going in and out of the laboratory so it is very important to pay attention to what tests the doctors are ordering. Phlebotomist’s are also required to know and understand what correct tubes to draw for each patient. If the phlebotomist isn’t knowledgeable of the tube selection, the ordering doctor will not receive the correct results and it falls on the phlebotomist’s responsibility. As a phlebotomist, we must enter tests and orders into the database with patient’s information, insurance information, doctor’s information, orders and tests, so it is crucial that we pay attention to detail at all times. Attention to detail is vital because without it, specimens may get misplaced or

mislabeled.
Drawing blood from patients require hand-eye coordination. In my experience in the lab, many things are going on at once; you must watch the needle in the patient’s arm/hand while switching the tubes and grabbing gauze while the needle is still in the patient’s arm/hand. The patients are trusting a person they do not know so it is important to show you are professional and that you know what to do in any situation.
Multitasking is a major duty in the phlebotomist’s daily life because the lab can get very busy.

Doctors are relying on us for results so the phone can be ringing while preforming a venipuncture. At times, the patient volume will go up and patients may have to wait over an hour and as a result, they may get upset. It is important to have the lab run smoothly and successfully by completing each task prepared and organized. Multitasking in the lab also involves helping fellow phlebotomists with draws and other duties to ensure the lab runs smoothly.

As a phlebotomist it is important to be easy-going because we are talking with people all day long. In the lab we see many different types of patients, including newborns, children, teenagers, adults and geriatrics. Talking to the patient can help ease their nervousness. Drawing children was my favorite because although they would cry, we gave them stickers and every child loved it. Showing compassion for not only the patients, but to the families and even your coworkers can positively affect the laboratory and work day.

As you can see, without these five personal traits it may be difficult for an individual to have a successful career as a phlebotomist. With the use of our empathy, attention to detail, hand-eye coordination abilities, ability to multitask and easy-going personalities, we can ensure the lab will run smoothly on a daily basis and our patient’s will leave happy and

satisfied.