1.19.2012

Phlebotomy.

Frustration is definitely running rampant in me. I would say as of now, but the frustration really started about a year ago. 
I am frustrated simply because I feel inadequate. 
I was accepted into a fantastic Phlebotomy program a month before I graduated high school and completed the program a month after I graduated. I received a perfect score on my certification test and was top in the class for painless draws and locating difficult veins. I have a calm demeanor and I take great pride in the skills I have learned and will continue to develop.
But, I can’t get a job. From here stems the frustration. I have submitted 33 phlebotomy applications to numerous labs, hospitals, dialysis centers, and cancer centers, but have yet to receive an interview, or even as little as an email or call back.
Its because I have no experience. There is no place around me that accepts volunteer phlebotomists and I would have to join another program in order to receive an internship, that wouldn’t be paid. So in order to acquire experience, I have to already have it.
I used an entire $2,500 scholarship to pay for my program, which forced me to take some student loans when I first started attending college. I have a minimum wage job in a gift shop, but I need more money to pay my bills and pay for my wedding that has been pushed off a year because of my financial inadequacies. So, financial frustration is also weighing down on my shoulders. 
I’ve stopped in to the places where I applied. I have called the lab managers. I have visited with the lab managers. I have asked the HR departments to forward my applications, which most of them say they’ve done. Nothing I do is getting me a job, and I have no more answers or ideas. 
Another thing that frustrates me, especially with phlebotomy, is that many people in this field are without formal training. I have witnessed countless unsafe practices, such as a woman removing a needle and getting blood on her ungloved hands and then moving to another patient without disinfecting herself. Or another woman completely disregarding the vein I politely asked her to use, causing her to collapse my vein, creating a 6 inch hematoma and severe a blood clot. I have also been ignored and treated without caring or compassion by more than one phlebotomist. 
It is uncaring, careless, and dangerous practices, like the above, that frustrate me even more because I know how much better I am than that. This is not saying I don’t and won’t make mistakes, or that I am a better person than they are, but I know I will never do anything to endanger the patients or my own safety simply out of stupidity and lack of education.
I would love to be employed by a lab or hospital, just so I can show them some of the highest quality of work they have ever seen from a phlebotomist who cares about each patient, takes all necessary safety precautions, and strives for nothing less than the absolute best.
And, if you are a prospective employer who is somehow reading this, please, call me.

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