More and more prospective stidents look for a phlebotomy and EKG training program. While they are quite distinctive careers, the reason why some colleges offter combined training classes in phlebotomy and EKG, is that some phlebotomists may be required to perform EKG tests as well.

Do you need an EKG training?

Many ekg technicians or phlebotomists would tell you that EKG interpretation is easy and you don’t need any kind of certifcation and you should not waste your time and money on combied cardiovascular and phlebotomy training course. Yet, the same they say about training programs for phlebotomists and then they complain that they cannot find any jobs.

Longer phlebotomy and EKG training courses, not short or one day on-the-job traing courses, are prefferable to your employers. You can find those courses offerred by your local community collages and usually they cost several hundreds of dollars, depending the state where you live.

Why longer phlebotomy/EKG training courses are better?

If you do get trained in a community college, they should have in hospital practical training in drawing blood. This is essential for you when you will look for a phlebotomy job in the future, as most HR or hospital supervisers want to see you have enough experience in drawing blood. The same applies for cardiology technicians as well, though been and EKG is easier.

EKG Technician and/or Phlebotomy Technician

Finding your first job in a hospital or plasma units will be your biggest hurdle without prior experience. While most hospitals require you at least one year “in hospital” experience, if you show enough diligence and willing to work, you may overcome this.

Having a certification in both phlebotomy and EKG it may help you get your first job easier either as an EKG technician, phlebotomy techinician, lab assistant or hospital donor unit assistant. Then, once you have enough experience on the job, you can look for better phlebotomy or EKG jobs.

On The Job Training as a phlebotomist or EKG technician

If you already work in a hospital such as hospital aid or other nursing duty, you can have on-the-job training either as a phlebotomist, either as an EKG. Sometimes you may be offerred both. This way you may save money on the phlebotomy/EKG training. Sometimes, hospitals offers money for outside training.

If you live in Arizona and want to become a phlebotomist technician you are lucky as there are several colleges who offer you this type of training and certification. The two most important colleges to choose from when it comes to phlebotomy training in Arizona are Phonix College and Coconino Community College.

The Phoenix College provides career training for more than 30000 students. You will gain a certification in phlebotomy upon completion. You will need to undertake a prerequisite course in healthcare organization, job saftety and communication if you have no or little healthcare field experience. If you have two or more years of experience in healthcare, you are exempt from this course.

The course in phlebotomy is one full semester where you will learn skin puncture and venipuncture techniques. You will gain experience on drawing blood on all ages’ patients.

Coconino Community College is situated in Flagstiff town. It’s phlebotomy course is 32hour credit based course which will took you 1,5 years to complete. You will then be able to work in hospitals, clinics and community health agencies.

http://www.estrellamountain.edu/programs/phlebotomy

http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/index.php?page=29&subpage=651&sublink=665

http://www.coconino.edu/academics/curriculum/collegecatalog/Pages/PhlebotomyCertificate.aspx

Thinking of getting a phlebotomy training, but you can not afford the cost? Your solution could be a phlebotomy training grant or scholarship, since those are mostly offered by government agencies and you may be eligible for one.

The average cost of a phlebotomy technician training school is around $3000. Not everybody can afford the price, especially for those who have been unemployed for a long period of time or  have other family commitments.

The best place to start looking for a grant to fund your phlebotomy training is your college, since most of phlebotomy training is done through various local colleges. They usually have the information regarding the grants available and if you are eligible or not. A talk with their Financial Aid Department will help you get the information you need about phlebotomy training grants.

For example, the phlebotomy course done by Oregon College does come with a HOPE grant application.

Besides local college grants, you may qualify for what is known as Pell Grant, a governmental grant based on financial situations and not on merit. This means that you can qualify regardless of your school scores during high school. You could learn more about Pell Grants here.

Getting a grant is ideal because you don’t have to give the money back. If you are a single mother or single dad, you may look into financial aids for single mothers or fathers.

These training programs are ideal for stay at home moms who live on benefits, but would like to get back to work and have better incomes. Health training programs such as nursing, medical assistants, phlebotomists, midwives, and others make good career choice for those who have no previous work experience, but they just need training. For these very reasons you may be able to find a grant to finance your phlebotomy course if you are a single mother.

Some local hospitals or medical centers may offer grants to train future staff. This is also valid for states where there is a shortage of phlebotomists. Note that jobs available for phlebotomists varies greatly between states and places where do you live, in metropolitan areas the competition for jobs been higher, hence the local grants available are fewer.

A search on a job portal such as Indeed will help you find out how much demand is for jobs in your state or town and identify other medical fields  such as medical assistants  or EKG technicians where you could get more jobs. Then you should look for some phlebotomy training grants available for you.

There are lots of accreditated phlebotomy online classes nationally nowadays, but for some people they are out of reach, mostly due to commute. For those kind of future phlebotomy students, getting an ascp phlebotomy online courses makes sense.

The reason why I said to look for an accreditated one is that you will be eligible to enter the certification exam authomatically. Getting a phlebotomy certification is essential for you to be able to get employment and compete on the job market with other phlebotomist technicians. The vast majority of hospitals employ only certified phlebotomists.

There is a lot of misconception about online health training schools, particularly the health ones such as nurses, dentists, and so on since you need to have also practical training to get the right skills for the job. With some scam phlebotomy schools out there, this is understandable.

The phlebotomy online classes are usually designed for those people who have some kind of medical experience. Normally, you need just a high school diploma degree to attend one. You will need a computer and internet connection to be able to view the online courses and see the lab video testing and trainings provided by the tutors. You may get partial assignments as well as well as small tests and quizes.

The most important part of a phlebotomy training is the practical part, when you actually practice drawing blood on patients. Usually, the online phlebotomy training school should offer you this. Most of them do a one day training at a health center. Some may say that one day is not enough for grasping this difficult skill set, since drawing blood is much more difficult than been a CNA or LPA for example, but most hospitals do just one day training, so this is really not unusual.

For getting more experience, read the previous article on phlebotomy volunteer work and how to get enough work experience as a phlebotomist to be able to find phlebotomy employment.

Are you looking for an online phlebotomy school? One that I found been mentioned is cvas.org former medtexx. Kaplan offer lots of online course trainings, and they might have one for phlebotomy as well.

The online phlebotomy training ranges around $400 if it is without any practical training. Those may count extra for some providers. Generally, an online training is cheaper then a normal training at a college because they have less costs to provide the trainings such as rent, electricity, etc.

No matter which kind of phlebotomy online classes you choose, please make sure it is listed on the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences(NAAACLS). This will ensure you pay for an accreditated phlebotomy online classes.

I read all kinds of conflicting views about which one is better, phlebotomy or medical assistant? Some people wrongly believe that by taking a medical assistant training is enough to land you a phlebotomist job, which is not.

During your medical assistant you will learn how to draw blood, also learn how and which veins to take blood and heart, usually about 5 weeks, but this is not enough for you to be able to profess a sa phlebotomist. The reson for the venipuncture training for medical assistants is that ocasionaly your doctor may put you to draw blood from patients for various reasons.

In order to get a phlebotomy job in a hospital you need to be a certified phlebotomist which you can do it on the school you have had the training and after that you need to sit for your national exam. Conform to regulation a medical assistant can draw blood but can not work as a phlebotomist.

Some people may prefer getting a medical assistant training as the options to get a job a wider. Really, by becoming a medical assistant you can find more easily jobs available without so much experience rather than been a phlebotomist. Without experience, it is notoriously difficult to get very well aying jobs in hospitals. Though, once someone have more experience in their back, at least 5 years, then the pay is muc more higher for a phlebotomist.

So, deceding which way to go is also a personal preference. Some people may feel completely boring to sit eight hours and just draw blood. Others may not like the job of a medical assistant, particularly if you have to work with difficult patients, such as kids or elderly or mentally disabled.