"Here comes the NURSE...", as people sometimes call us when getting a blood sample, but at the back of our minds, how we would love to tell them that we are medtechs. But that's how they see us and to make things easy, we remain silent.
At just a simple look, a patient might ask: "Are you an intern?" but then we just ignore the insult and laughed at the thought to stay confident and prove to them they're wrong. As the Coldplay song goes, 'Nobody said it was easy'. Sometimes, they have no idea how nervous for us just palpating the small veins of a cancer patient, obese patients and even babies when pressured to do it JUST ONCE (either thru syringe, vacutainer or butterfly method).
Well, the issue in here is...they just don't have the idea how it feels like to be degraded by someone emotionally, professionally and even physically just because you failed to extract. Here's also the thing, the SOs or the significant others cursing us for being so incompetent and pointing their fingers like we owe them a big deal. Even calling the attention of other people just to humiliate or compare us to other phlebotomists as well. REALLY! These situations do happen just to compensate that one mistake we did! They were not in the position when some of us phlebotomists want to disappear in an instant just because of shame, and the dignity that was taken out from us.
Yes, we encounter these scenarios everyday not mentioning the health hazards we face! They don't have an idea how frustrated we are trying to get blood as we swim the needle through and through. Even a simple 'Tsk, Tsk' is an alarm that we need to pull it out because it's hopeless and the patient complained already. Worse, we get discouraged that at the end of the struggle, the blood is still hemolyzed, clotted and needs re-extraction.
Yes, our job is to inflict pain to patients by using needles. Yes, we do accept our mistakes (even the hematoma on your skin, we're really sorry) because humans as we are, we fail. We're just asking you to give some understanding and a little of your respect to be considerate enough. We're also health professionals who took our time and dedication of studying and even passing the licensure exam. If we fail, I think there's a formal or a right way that you could vent your frustration, not to shout or curse us in public. Take note, this job is just a portion of being a medical technologist. Don't judge us as a whole.
But in the lighter note, we commend those people who regard us phlebotomists as vital in the laboratory. We really do appreciate those people who reply in our sincere 'Thank you' after every extraction.
This is a shoutout for those people who don't know us yet. You just don't know...AS PHLEBOTOMISTS, WE CARE. To all the phlebotomists and warding medtechs out there, don't just say 'I'm just a phlebotomist.', Be proud of it because the patient's laboratory results depend on you. Blood collection is where it all started. We are the key players of the patient's diagnosis.
LONG LIVE TO THE SO-CALLED BLOOD SUCKERS IN THE LABORATORY!
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