What equipment does a phlebotomist use?
When beginning your Phlebotomy training, it is crucial to familiarize yourself with the wide range of equipment you may use on a day-to-day basis. At a minimum, the equipment required when drawing blood includes gloves, alcohol or iodine to cleanse the area, a tourniquet, tubes, a tube holder, needles, tape, and gauze.
A Phlebotomist should be completely aware of the wide range of needles, tubes, etc. that they may encounter in the field, including:
Syringe – syringes are used to collect blood from patients with small or fragile veins. Another tool that can be used in these situations is a butterfly needle.
Multi-sample blood collection needle – this device has two needles that are screwed into the holder. One needle is inserted into the vein while the vacuum blood collection tube is inserted into the holder and punctured by the needle on the other end of the tool.
Tourniquet – this device is used to occlude venous blood flow and help phlebotomists discover the vein.
Safety trainer device – this serves to protect phlebotomists from an accidental needle stick when transferring blood into vacuum tubes from syringes.
Blood culture bottle – these bottles are used to collect blood from patients that are suspected of having septicemia or bacteremia.
Microtainer® tube* – Microtainer® tubes are tiny collection tubes that are used to collect blood from a skin puncture from a finger or heel. These are often used for those patients who are difficult draws, including elderly patients or those with fragile or difficult veins, such as infants and small children.
BD Eclipse – this is a multi-sample vacuum collection needle. It also has a safety device attached and is used for venipuncture using the vacuum tube collection system.
Portex needle pro – this is a needle-safety device that is used along with the vacuum blood collection system.
Microhematocrit tube – these tubes are used for collecting blood for hematocrit tests.
To learn more about the steps you can take to start a rewarding career as a Phlebotomist, contact Arizona College.
*Microtainer® is a registered trademark of Becton, Dickinson and Company.
Information in this blog post is accurate as of January 18, 2020.