Work-Life10 Sep 2007 03:09 pm
Okay, I admit it. I didn’t know what a phlebotomist was when I met one a few years back.
Well, I do now. It’s someone who is trained in the art of drawing blood. And when I say art, I mean art. It’s a difficult task to get blood from an individual, especially a child.
Check out my story this week in the New York Times on what the heck a phlebotomist does. It’s part of a section in the paper called “Preoccupations” that looks at a certain profession, ones we may not know a lot about, and explains the ins and outs of the job.
Are there jobs out there I should know about, write about? Do you do something that gets people asking, “what the heck do you do?”
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:22 am
After adopting my middle son, I was working 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Those were pretty good hours for the 800 bed hospital. My Director created a job for me, as he wanted me to “keep a foot in the door”. I didn’t do much but talk to the employees in the laboratory, waiting in line to talk to this great boss. One day, the Administrator and my Director came to my little 8 x 10 cell, and shut the door. It was funny because with my secretarial desk, there was not much room for even two chairs. But, in they came. I did little jobs for them - like telling the women to wear bras, or to lengthen their skirts. Eventually, this meeting came ’round, and even though I had only been a Pathology Secretary for over 10 years, and now working this Assistant Administrator job, I was offered an entire Department in the Laboratory. At the time, there were 50+ part-time and full-time employees. They had performed a mutiny on the last three supervisors, all with Bachelors or Masters degrees. However, they liked that I could talk to the people, change their behavior, and still keep a smile on my face. These people were the phlebotomists, and the reception office and waiting room clerks. I was given three weeks to learn how to “stick”, blood gases, capillary action on premi- babies, and regular blood collecting. My main function, though, was to “clean house”. The men wanted me to weed out the bad eggs and create a working team rather than the dangerous cliques that were trying to take over the department. Within a month, I had it down to a little over 30 employees. It was great. That department was running like a fine-toothed grandfather clock, if I do say so myself. My bosses had put me in as “Acting Supervisor” for three months, and sent that notice out to all Department heads in the hospital. Within one month, a second notice was sent out, stating that I had done a miraculous thing, by turning over a shabby performing Requisition Department, into a great serviceable one throughout the “house”. The word Acting was removed from my title, and the stationery for the Laboratory was rewritten. It included my name. One of the Pathology doctors, who had also become a great friend, asked me what letters to put behind my name? Ahhh, I said 6MC. He put it on the stationery, right up there with six doctors and eight Department heads. It stood for six months of college. It was a great fun job. Fixing companies is one of my hobbies now - I left the hospital in ‘89, and started one business, then another, then a consulting company. The last one is KTE Business Re-Organization Systems. It is my pleasure to walk into any business and spend as much time as needed to turn the red into blue on the profit charts. I am also a writer, KTE Consultants, answering any questions from subjects of motherhood - to successful Entrepreneur (female)! I have had nothing but interesting jobs, and, enjoy the chance to talk about them. Thanks for the opportunity, Eve. Kitty Kelso
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:26 am
Eve - need spell-check. Sorry, I should be more careful about my editing. Kitty
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:53 am
Don’t worry about the spelling Kitty. Blogs are one place we can let that slide a bit.
Anyway, what a great story. I think women, and men, will be inspired by that story. It is all about being strong and focused. You can really do what you want.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Hi, Eve!!! I am having so much fun roaming around this sometimes overwhelming cyber-world. When I find a complete new area, I am angry that I haven’t seen it before. I am a word collector. Some people are bone collectors - me I love words. Aren’t they fun? I wish I had done more “dictionaries” in the monthly Reader’s Digest - so I can dig deep into a subject with more explicit wording. Anyhoo, I wanted to tell you just a couple of things that I should have metioned regarding phlebotomists. Without them, most people would not get better!! You are right when you said getting blood from a child was difficult. That isn’t the deepest word for that chore..when you know that child is very sick, and unless you can get the blood so the doctor can put it through some really unbelieveable diagnostic machines in the laboratory, you must truly attack the situation. You have seen, a child fight the all dreaded needle, right? When we were short-handed, I went out on the floors of the hospital to help my team get the blood from the sick patients. Normally, I sent two people to pediatrics - one to hold, one to stick. If, however, the troops were scattered, I went to the floor. If I couldn’t find a nurse or an aide to help me. I had to almost straddle (sp?) the little angel, holding the kicking legs, the bucking rump, and the hitting fists. One good thing here, I already had a fist. The fist pumps the blood back up into the veins, making them easier to decipher - between nerves, ligaments, arteries, etc. Having all fours surrendered, I could easily “stick” this little arm, and get the blood I needed. Funny, but when I was done I just sat there, and the fighting stopped, and I was smiling. The little ones, saw me smiling and realized it was all over, and it DIDN’T hurt much at all. The next time, they were usually much more receptive to being “Brave”. I really talked up the “Brave” word. Well, that’s a story from pediatrics. Being a phlebotomist has many different streams of difficulty and success. I will tell you another story, another day. I love writing about experiences, hence, I am almost done with my book. I just need an ending..Have a great day, Eve. Kitty Kelso