Working in a medical field is something that makes people proud. Being a doctor, nurse or any other positions in a medical field means helping others. So, no wonder why a lot of people want to work in this field. Phlebotomist is one of the professions in the medical field and to be a phlebotomist you need to complete a certain education.
Anyone can be a phlebotomist as long as they meet the requirements. However, what will happen if someone with a criminal record applies for a job to be a phlebotomist? Is there a chance to be accepted? Read the information about it below.
What is a Phlebotomist?
Phlebotomist is a profession in the medical field that has a job to collect blood from patients for a variety of reasons. It means that this profession requires you to deal with blood. If you are afraid of blood, this job may not be suitable for you. Collecting blood is usually done for transfusions, medical tests, or donations. A phlebotomist usually works in a hospital or laboratory.
Becoming a Phlebotomist
Same as other medical professions, becoming a phlebotomist needs certain education requirements. There are a lot of potential phlebotomists who get an associate degree where it is an educational course taken at the undergraduate level. As explained on the Hire Felons Jobs site, if you want to enroll in a phlebotomist training course, you need to have your high school diploma or GED. By joining a phlebotomy training program, you will learn about anatomy, medical terminology, physiology, infection control, safety measures, and other lessons needed for being a phlebotomist.
Since a phlebotomist will deal with blood, you may study more about it. Finding veins, drawing blood from capillaries or veins, handling blood samples, and studying different techniques of drawing blood will also be learned.
Can Felons Study at Medical School?
Some felons may be insecure and curious whether it is permissible for felons to study at medical school or not. On the other hand, they really want to pursue their dream, in this case to work in a medical field as a phlebotomist.
In the past, you made a mistake, but now you may want to change yourself to be a better person and you want to start pursuing your dream. So, can felons study at a medical school? Actually, there is no specific law that regulates felons that cannot go to medical school. However, each university, college or institution has its own requirements for accepting students. There may be some institutions that do not want to accept felons, but some other institutions may be able to accept felons. So, the thing that you can do is to find a medical school that can accept your criminal record.
There are some factors that determine for an institution to accept felons or not. They may consider the type of crime that you committed, the nature of the crime, the time has elapsed since your conviction, and some other things. It may be challenging for crimes like violence, sexual crimes and drug offenses, because these crimes can be a risk since you will work with patients.
As someone who has a criminal record, the thing that you need to do when you apply for being a student at a medical school is that you need to be honest. Tell me that you have a criminal record when you are asked about it and make sure that you explain it well and prove that you have changed to be a better person by explaining some positive activities that you have done recently.
Even though you have a criminal record, if you commit that you want to be a better person and pursue your dream, be optimistic and do your best.
Requirements to Attend a Phlebotomy Training Course
To be able to be a certified phlebotomy technician, you have to attend a training program where it can be done for 40 to 80 hours in class and 20 to 40 hours in a clinic. According to the National Program Specialists (NPS), generally, the requirements to attend a phlebotomy training course are:
- Over 18 years old
- Having high school diploma or GED
- Having clean background check (no felonies)
- Having negative hepatitis test
- Having negative TB test
- Having immunization records
If you have completed your phlebotomy training course, you will receive a Certificate of Completion where it is a proof that you have successfully completed the course and you can sit for the national certification examination. So, completing training does not mean that you are certified. To be certified, you need to have your competency put to the test by a third party certification agency. And after you are certified, usually you need to renew your certification each two years.
In general, if you want to take the certification exam, usually you need to:
- Have high school diploma or GED
- Complete a phlebotomy training program OR 1 year of on-the-job experience in the past 3 years
- Do 30 successful blood draws
- Do 10 successful capillary sticks
Having empathy, good communication skills, ability to work under pressure and under instructions, detail-oriented, physical stamina and hand-eye coordination to draw blood from patients are some other things that a phlebotomist needs to have.
If you do not know where you have to go to be certified as a phlebotomist, for your information, American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and the National Phlebotomy Association are two among organizations that offer certification.
Salary and Duties of Phlebotomist
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May 2022, the median annual wage for phlebotomists was around $38,530. The factors like experience and the area where you work can affect your salary as a phlebotomist.
A phlebotomist can work around 40 hours a week. What does a phlebotomist do? Here are a number of duties of a phlebotomist as cited from National Performance Specialists.
- Drawing blood
- Verifying the identity of patients
- Evaluating a patient and explaining procedures
- Preparing blood or other specimens for testing
- Maintaining your area and equipment
- Point of care testing
- Labelling blood for processing
- Entering the records of patients into a computer
Can Someone with a Criminal Record be a Phlebotomist?
For someone who has a criminal record, applying for a job in a medical field may be challenging. It is understandable because working in a medical field will require you to work with patients. Employers may not want to have a risk by employing felons.
However, according to the Hire Felons Jobs, there are a lot of phlebotomists who are working in the healthcare industry and they have a criminal record. So, there is a hope for you to be able to work in the same field. It may be challenging to pursue your dream to be a phlebotomist, but as long as you study hard, have a good attitude and prove that you are eligible, you can be accepted to be a phlebotomist.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
