Phlebotomy: Obtaining Blood From a Vein

911 Words2 Pages

(Attention getter) Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. That’s a lot of blood. Blood is scary, and blood always seems to make situations worse than it really is. Trust me, it happened to me personally. But if you think about it, blood is everything. There are many things about phlebotomy, yet not a lot of people know about them. (Thesis) Coming from a family with a bit of history in the medical fields, this topic easily made me curious and I wanted to know more. (Preview three main ideas) And now, I want you guys to know a little bit as well, as I will explain a brief history of phlebotomy. Second, I will share how phlebotomy is today. Lastly, I will share some education courses that would be helpful to become a successful phlebotomy technician. But don’t worry; there won’t be any blood in this speech, so there’s nothing to worry about.
(Topic sentence) According to the Health Care, Medicine, and Science, by Deborah Porterfield (1st citation), the word phlebotomy means “obtaining blood from a vein.” (P.34) Phlebotomy came a long way, as it was one of the traditional ways of medicine. According to Jamie Cohen (2nd citation), this practice is thought to have originated from ancient Egypt. From Egypt, this practice was starting to get used in Europe. Erasistratus, a popular physician in ancient Greece, believed that illness was caused due to too much blood. A little later, the Roman Empire believed in Erasistratus’s theory and performed phlebotomy more (P.1). With these two empires rising to the top, phlebotomy was spread throughout the world, including to places like India and Arabia as well. Years later in Europe, churches were not a big fan of cutting people open and let them bleed. So, who performed this...

... middle of paper ...

...puts life in people. Phlebotomy was used for thousands of years, no wonder it’s important. (Final Statement, connected with opening) Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. That is a lot of blood. But don’t worry; there are thousands of certified people that know what they’re doing. If you are overwhelmed with all these new information and don’t feel so good, phlebotomy could be a solution for you.

Work Cited
Cohen, Jennie. "A Brief History of Bloodletting." History.com. 30 May 2012. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. .
"Phlebotomy Technicians." Exploring Health Care Careers. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Furgeson, 2006. 712-18. Print.
Porterfield, Deborah. "Phlebotomy Technician." Health Carem Medicine, and Science. New York: Ferguson, 2008. 30-36. Print. Great Careers with a High School Diploma.

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