Schools Offering Phlebotomy Degrees

Career Specializations

Phlebotomy is typically considered a career specialization for medical assistants or laboratory technicians and does not contain any strongly delineated specializations within its own practice. There are varied techniques within phlebotomy such as venipuncture, the drawing of blood from veins, and fingerstick withdrawal, which is the drawing of blood by pricking the tip of fingers. Phlebotomists will typically be trained in all common types of blood withdrawal.

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Available Degree Levels

• Phlebotomy Certificate: 6 months to 1 year
• Associate Degree: 1-2 years
• Bachelor's Degree: 3-4 years

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Education and Certification Requirements

Because of the variety of areas in which phlebotomists practice their craft, the options for certification and education in phlebotomy are equally varied. Individual states, hospitals, and practices all have different standards as to what constitutes sufficient training in order to work in phlebotomy. The majority of institutions will accept certification from one of the many entities that provide phlebotomy examinations.

The following is a brief list of some of the major examination providers in no particular order:

• ASPT
• ACSP
• American Med Tech
• ACA
• NCCT
• NHA
• AAMA

The main difference between each certifying agency, other than the words they choose to put after "American" in their name, is the level of detail they go into on their tests. Some tests will require practical examinations, or in other words an on-site draw during the test, and some ask only for theoretical knowledge.

Because certification requirements are different from state to state, readers considering becoming a phlebotomist should visit the state government page online. A full list of these state pages can be found at this USA.gov.

As for the specifics of varying phlebotomy degree levels, different degrees will be appropriate for different students. A basic certification in phlebotomy is the lowest level of official education in the area. Certification programs will introduce future phlebotomists to the full set of practices involved in phlebotomy and prepare them to withdraw blood. Programs like this may be well suited to physicians who practice in another area and wish to become highly competent blood drawers, as well as students looking to add to their job readiness by picking up a trade.

Associate programs take two years as opposed to several months or a year, and cover all of the basic details as well as some of the more nuanced concepts related to blood drawing like dealing with various patient issues and potentially some of the lab work involved in phlebotomy. A program like this will be a good choice for someone seriously considering a dedicated career in phlebotomy.

Bachelor's programs require as many as four years and will teach essentially everything within the realm of phlebotomy. Trade professionals who wish to be fully dedicated phlebotomists are the primary takers of bachelor's programs in phlebotomy.

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Salary Information

At first glance, phlebotomists can expect to make a median wage of between $12.00 and $13.00 per hour according to the information published by the ASCP cited by the BLS. As is said of all statistics though, wage statistics on phlebotomists lie. The problem with this estimate is that the majority of phlebotomists are certificate phlebotomists. This means that the median, which is found by ranking the hourly wages by amount and then taking the middle number of that list, likely does not reflect the earnings of associate and bachelor's degree holders, whose numbers are too small to significantly effect the median.

There are no readily available public statistics on this sub-group's earnings, but we can estimate that they make significantly more than the whole of phlebtomy's rough $12.50 an hour. One thing to consider is that for some specialized private medical practices, the salary paid to a blood drawer is a relatively minimal expense compared to total operating costs, while having good blood draws is very important. This may indicate that some private firms are willing to pay substantially more to find a highly trained phlebotomist.

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Job Outlook

The BLS predicts excellent job prospects for clinical technicians over the period between 2008 and 2018. They estimate that the total employment of these technicians will grow substantially. There are, however, two forces at work in this particular labor market.

On the one hand technological advances and increasing healthcare needs are increasing demand for more and more research in medicine. Everything from malaria tests to new pills at times require blood draws.

On the other hand, many private research firms are attempting to develop methods of blood drawing that do not require trained professionals to execute. This means that physicians and patients may be taking on more of the hospital's blood drawing work, but private research will increasingly demand more phlebotomists, causing a shift from hospital work to research in the profession. All of this considered, the BLS finds that phlebotomists should have a fantastic job market in the foreseeable future.

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Related Careers

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When someone has serious blood problems resulting from kidney failure or other causes, a lot of blood work is required to keep them alive and well. Dialysis technicians specialize in various methods of dialysis used to maintain chemical balance in the blood of their clients. They work on a personal level with patients, and seek to ensure that they are happy and safe.

Laboratory Technician

Laboratory technicians are the workers who conduct many of the tests and procedures necessary to complete experiments, diagnose diseases, and follow through on requests by physicians, scientists, and researchers. Their breadth of their work is as great as that of the modern scientific pursuit, and they often get to work with some of the newest and most interesting equipment available to science. This field is rapidly growing as modern technology progresses.

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