Life as a vampire…eh, I mean Phlebotomist

Written by Natalie S.

I am now a few weeks into my clinical, five to be exact, and I am learning and trying new things daily.  I have now done over 300 sticks and I can sense when a patient is not comfortable with having their blood drawn.  I have become pretty good at distracting them from what is going on.  If you talk to the person about something other than what you are doing, they relax a bit and don’t feel quite as terrified.

So I am no longer shaking as I draw blood.  I no longer get terrible anxiety with every poke.  I just do it!   I have real passion for the veins that aren’t visible on the surface.  I still like the big fat juicy ones, but I find that they like to roll around and hide from you.  The veins that you can feel but aren’t visible seem to be the reliable geysers I like to draw from.  I understand if most of you are feeling a little bit queasy about drawing blood, but I think it is awesome.  With every single stick I feel more and more confident.

I must have been naïve because I never imagined all of the other work that a Phlebotomist would be required to do in addition to drawing blood.  We do throat swabs, drug screenings, and urine and stool collections.  I have now assisted with several blood draws on babies and children and let me tell you those little ones are stronger than some full grown men.  This I would have to say is my least favorite thing, I do not enjoy holding children’s arms down but do it willingly as I know that the tests would not have been ordered by the doctors if they were not needed.  Of course, we have special cartoon character band-aids for the kids to show off to the friends and relatives-they should be proud of how brave they were to get their blood drawn.

I have had some patients refuse to let me draw their blood.  They were afraid I wasn’t experienced enough.  Well I am not that experienced….so I reassured them that I completely understand and ask if I can just observe which they don’t mind in the least.  I really do understand because I have veins that like to play hide and seek and I wouldn’t want a student using me as a pin cushion, either.

The lab and draw rooms are very busy places in a hospital.  I kind of figured that but I couldn’t have imagined that they were as crazy busy as they are.   I love the busy pace of the lab as the hours just fly by and you get a lot of practice.  The phlebotomists that I have been working with have been great.  They are there to answer any and all of my questions and help me when I need it.  I kind of feel like part of the phlebotomy team, even part of a bigger healthcare team as well.

Drawing Blood For The First Time

Written by Natalie S.

This quarter I am doing my clinical for the phlebotomy program and working on finishing up my HIT course requirements.  At first I was terrified of the thought of doing a clinical–the word clinical made me cringe.  All I could think of was not being ready and messing things up.  I sure didn’t want to drive 30 minutes away to go to a site where I didn’t know anyone and a place where no one cared about my success or failure in the least.  I was freaking out about how I was going to put in my 120 hours and still work, do my other course work and take care of my family.  The mere thought of figuring this puzzle out gave me a migraine.

So as my fear and nervousness was mounting, along came the first day of my clinical.  I arrived at the site and checked in with the supervisor of my clinical experience. My heart was in my throat the entire first hour I was there.  The ladies I worked with were nice–they had me complete some paperwork for them and then showed me how they did things.  Then about twenty minutes after I had finished my paperwork, they had me draw on a patient, A REAL LIVE PATIENT, not someone from my class who was ok with being stuck. A patient who was not excited about having their blood taken in the first place so I mustered all of the courage I had.  I put on my gloves, put the needle together, gathered my tubes, got my gauze ready and got my tourniquet.  I put the arm rest down on the chair; I tied off my patients arm and prayed.  I prayed that I would be able to feel a vein, that I would be able to find a vein and most of all that I would be able to perform this draw with no issues.  Then I clean off the area and palpated the area for the vein, BINGO a big fat juicy vein was right there.  It wasn’t trying to hide or anything; I put my needle together, anchored the skin and poked the needle in.  I pushed the tube on and a beautiful geyser of blood comes pouring into the tube.  I filled the 2 tubes that I needed, released my tourniquet and took out the needle.  I applied the gauge and wrapped up the patients arm with co-flex.  I had done it!  I preformed a draw on a real live patient, just me with the techs just looking on.  I was no longer nervous about my abilities because I knew if I got the first patient I had the ability.

As I am now in my third week at the clinical site I feel my confidence growing, I am still learning ways to improve but I know I have the basics to succeed in phlebotomy.  Oh, by the way, I love drawing blood, I think this is what I was born to do, maybe in a past life or something I was a Vampire?  I will get back to you on how I am doing soon.

Follow The Yellow Brick Road

Dorothy, we’re not in Kansas anymore!

By MTC Student Ambassador, LP

Do you remember Dorothy and Toto?  How about the Tin-Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion?  What an adventure they had, searching for their dreams along the yellow brick road.  Meeting along the way the Munchkins, Glinda the good witch from the north, and the scary wicked witch from the west, they skipped along that path.

As their journey progressed, they began to mature, to look beyond what they wanted and instead they began to look for what was good for all of them.  It was no longer just about Dorothy going back home or the Tin-Man gaining a heart, but it was about strangers becoming friends and learning to take care of each other, to mature into a selfless group looking out for the good of the group.  When their adventure was coming to a close, and the great and powerful Oz was discovered to be just an ordinary man, the true lesson of life was unfolded before their eyes.  It was pointed out to them that the heart, brains, and courage that they (Tin-Man, Scarecrow, and Lion) were searching for was within them the whole time.  And Dorothy’s search for her way back home was really inside her very own heart all along.  When we stop to think about it, this is exactly how our life really is.

We all came to MTC starting an adventure down our own personal yellow brick road.  We enrolled here with the ultimate goal of obtaining the education required for either career advancement, or a career change.  Along the way we meet friends, counselors, advisors, and instructors who have each added to our adventure.  As time progresses we mature, moving from the self focused journey, into one of a group effort.  We impact each other’s lives, and leave our marks on each other’s hearts as we travel down our own yellow brick road.  Instructors not only educate, but impart in us a new way of thinking; being able to approach life with a new positive attitude, and attitude of change.  Advisors, counselors, administrators all lead by example.  Encouraging, assisting, leading us as they walk the halls talking to us, and doing the simplest form of care – giving us a much needed smile – a smile that says we know you are here, and we are here for you.

As the quarters begin to all mush together, and the only focus is graduating (like Dorothy wanting to go home), we need to remind ourselves to slow down, stop, take in every minute, every opportunity, making every memory count.  After graduation we will embark on our next journey.  We need to remember to always take the brains, heart, and courage that we have gained from our friends here, and hold them tightly in our own hearts and minds; to take the wisdom from Oz (our instructors, advisors, counselors) and apply it to our lives.  Graduating from MTC will leave us prepared to face life and to start a new adventure!

Now, standing arm in arm, together we will travel down the MTC-brick road, facing any obstacle that comes our way!

Singing: “We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!”

Christmas Memories

I love the whole holiday, the religious meanings, the time spent with family and friends and of course the food and gift giving.  I also love the memories of Christmas past.  My favorites are memories that included Santa Claus, grandparents, aunts and uncles who are no longer here to celebrate with us.

What I remember most as a child is sitting on Santa’s lap letting him know what the one thing was that my heart desired the most for Christmas.  I remember lying to him about being good because I often was not and praying the whole time that he didn’t find out about me and my little fib.  I remember the excitement of waking up Christmas morning and running down stairs to see if he indeed had showed up and if I had fooled him yet again this year.

Now that I am a mother, I love hearing my daughter talk to Santa about what she wants for Christmas and how wonderful she has been, the whole time knowing that her room is a disaster and that she in trouble daily for back talking.  But I hold my tongue and with all the joy in my heart I watch my daughters eyes sparkle at the thought of Santa’s impending arrival.  Seeing my child experience Christmas makes my heart sing. There are only few things that I enjoy more than this.

This year I find myself lacking in the Christmas spirit department.  I find myself remembering people who are gone and how I would love to see them again, if only just for Christmas Day.  As they are ever a part of my Christmas memories, the holiday just doesn’t seem right without them being here.  I don’t want this to put a damper on my child’s Christmas as her memories are just forming.  So this year I think I am going to add some of our family history to our Christmas tree.  I think I am going to find pictures of the people we love and somehow make ornaments with their pictures on them for our tree.  I think we are going to put pictures of those who are with us and those who are not.  I want my daughter to feel how the love of her family envelopes her on Christmas no matter if they are celebrating Christmas with us here on Earth or watching our celebrations from heaven.

My question to you is how do you bring the memories of your loved ones into your Christmas celebration and still keep it a happy event?

What a homewrecker!

Is the REAL meaning of Thanksgiving being taken over by “BLACK FRIDAY” shopping?

By MTC Student Ambassador, RR

Every year at Thanksgiving I look forward to eating lots of good food. The turkey, ham, stuffing, and pumpkin pie are just some examples of most common Thanksgiving Day meals.  Around 1975 is when the term “Black Friday” started to be used for shopping the Day after Thanksgiving. It is considered the first day of the Christmas shopping season.  It is the time that most retailers get “into the black” when it comes to their profit.  Thanksgiving to me and most people is supposed to be a time that you get together and spend time with family and enjoy everyone’s company.  Thanksgiving started as a day to celebrate the year’s harvest.  The shopping every year normally starts around 3am for most stores to get the really low priced bargains. This year however, some stores were open all Thanksgiving Day and it was considered a “Pre- Black Friday” sale. Other sales started at 10pm on Thanksgiving Day. This year I think it went way too far. The people that had to work didn’t get to spend the day with their family. I feel so bad for them. Retailers are trying to take the family holiday away for selfish profit reasons.  I love Black Friday shopping don’t get me wrong, but I don’t believe that it should have gone as far as taking the day away from family gatherings. I got to one of my Thanksgivings of the day and over half of the people were gone. Normally everyone stays till around 10pm-12am. Everyone was gone by 7pm this time because they needed to make the 8pm specials at Wal-mart. I was so disappointed. The sales to me were not more important than family time.  I like spending all night with family, staying up and watching movies until we go shopping at 4am. We would then shop until around 11am or noon and have brunch and go home and sleep. That was a fun family tradition. This year everyone was split up. Retailers have just gone way to far, and people are losing sight of why we enjoy the holiday.