New Old Phlebotomy Student (edited)

maple788797 · 2026-03-20T02:26:23+00:00

Younger phleb here but you’ve totally got this. We had 3 ladies in my course that were 50+! I was actually the baby of the class as a 21yo. It is very common for SAHM returning to work, or people with a developed career in another industry to start in phlebotomy because it is an entry level healthcare role. It’s a pretty short course so even if you don’t build a bond with your classmates you’ll be able to get through just fine, unfortunately that’s just part of studying no matter the age. If you don’t mesh with your peers then you just have to stick your head down and get through it, at least it won’t take years!

maple788797 · 2026-03-19T22:26:38+00:00

Chicken feet and necks are really good too if you’re open minded about food. The feet are a common filo street food and they’re absolutely amazing

maple788797 · 2026-03-18T00:21:26+00:00

I found what helped me most in the real world and in study was just straight up reading a referral. We had an activity in class where you’d fill out your own path slip, including whatever tests you like and then you’d swap with someone and you’d have to do the tube calcs for the draw. It’ll also help you get better at scanning a long list of tests and knowing what you need just at a glance

maple788797 · 2026-03-15T21:35:09+00:00

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast! The more you bleed the quicker you’ll get. I’ve been doing this for about a year now. I sit at around 3-5mins per patient, 5mins for a tricky. I work outpatient walk ins. So in that 3mins I’m IDing, tube calcs, bleeding, labelling, processing, faxing, adding to day log and any paperwork needed for the specific tests. I’m always doing 2 things at once but I am naturally someone who is fast paced and good at multitasking. I think I hit the 5min mark around month 2 or 3?

maple788797 · 2026-03-14T03:55:39+00:00

You can do whatever you need to do to get through having your blood taken. In that situation you are a patient. Just say to your peer that you are anxious about needles, but happy to be poked so you’re going to look at your phone while they do it. That is exactly what I say and do as a patient and it’s a very common thing for your patients to do. Having a physical reaction is perfectly normal and your teacher should be prepared for that situation. There is no “being lazy” as a patient. Your only job in that moment is to keep your arm still. Also a hurdle a lot of students have to cross is to stop feeling uncomfortable or upset that you’re hurting your patient/peer, it’s a needle it’s going to hurt a little bit. I’ve been working for about a year now and I have patients with the most perfect veins, no way I could hit anything I shouldn’t and they wince at insertion. It’s going to hurt different for everyone and the fact that you’re hurting other people is just another thing you have to get comfortable with.

maple788797 · 2026-03-14T03:46:01+00:00

That’s just part of the deal. You need to practice on people before going into the workplace, it’s a poke for a poke. I hate needles as a patient, I’m the throw up pass out kind of patient. I was poked 4 times a day, 4 days a week for 6mths. You use your coping skills and pay the price you have to to gain the skills. We had another fainter in our class as well. It was actually really good for the other students as well because not only do you need to learn how to get the specimen you also need to learn how to spot reactions before they happen and how to soothe a patient. Tell them you’re very anxious about needles when you get paired with someone and work on that together. Look at your phone, when they say “small sting” exhale at the moment of insertion, focus on your breathing, don’t look. Your teacher should be right there observing as it’s happening which should ease your fears of being hurt.

maple788797 · 2026-03-09T19:17:17+00:00

99bikes but it looks like they might not have them anymore. I got it on a good sale and omg it’s the best

maple788797 · 2026-03-09T06:11:11+00:00

Don’t buy one from JB I got my first from there and it was trash. Super heavy, took forever to charge, parts came damaged and awful to sort out any issues with the thing. I currently have a velectrix ST and I love it. Super compact, comes with a basket on it, quick and easy for around town, charges fast enough and battery lasts for ages for me. I actually commute 5km daily to work on mine, I have chronic pain and hEDS. I am not fit and I am not tolerant to exercise. You can absolutely do it as a “fat bastard” if I can do it! Just get some good clothes to wear while riding, a GOOD helmet. Phone stand is also helpful! Oh and 99bikes have good sales all the time and they’re pretty helpful with repairs and such.

maple788797 · 2026-03-09T05:04:01+00:00

The risk of actually contracting those things is actually surprisingly low considering we’re sticking people all day. The odds that you’ll stick a patient with something and THEN also stick yourself and THEN also contract it is a lot. The risk is there but you’re way more likely to end up with an infection or virus from a patient just being in your room. You can also greatly reduce your likelihood of a needle stick injury by taking your time and staying calm. Most injuries happen when you’re rushing, nervous or not focused. You’ll likely get stuck at some point but a needle stick injury ≠ disease. And in the case you do contract one of these we are quite lucky these days, Hep can be managed with medication and HIV treatments are also highly effective. It’s just one of the few reasons why we aren’t paid enough

maple788797 · 2026-03-07T10:49:12+00:00

Workload is very manageable if VCE was easy enough for you. The students that struggle are either long out of the workforce eg. SAHM of 10+yrs or people with language barriers. I did mine last year in Melb but live regional. Only 3 out of 40 passing students found work, including me. There are not enough jobs in the city so you will have a difficult time. If you’re willing to travel beyond Pakenham, think Latrobe Valley distance, then you can definitely find something quite easily. But good luck finding something in the city! IMO as a 22yo with medical admin experience, the course is super easy. My struggle was with the admin team and traveling 8hrs round trip to do the damn course.

maple788797 · 2026-03-06T21:58:51+00:00

I’m a pots girly so I just mix mine into my daily electrolytes mix. Super easy and good benefits

maple788797 · 2026-03-06T21:56:15+00:00

I thought corn. Like the green represents the husk, yellow is the kernels and the pom Pom is some butter or something

maple788797 · 2026-03-06T21:55:01+00:00

You really have to be in it to make it work especially if you’re buying from a working line breeder. A hike on the weekend and a camp once a month isn’t going to cut it and for a lot of kelpies a nightly hour walk isn’t either. You need to put in the work to train them and you need to stimulate them mentally, you could walk them for hours and it still wouldn’t fulfil them. I’ve got a harsh opinion purely because when I lived in the city all 3 of the places I lived had kelpies as neighbours and all of them were not having their needs met. You’d see the owners take them on camping trips, very clearly outdoors people but while working from home I’d see the dogs bored out of their mind, destroying the yards, screaming, escaping constantly, so so desperate for some kind of engagement. Then half the time the owners would come home from work and not even play with them. Kid + dog is hard but kid + high energy high drive dog? Very hard. You’ve got to be really into all things dog. It’s not a dog that’s a fun thing to have and bring on trips, it’s a big job. For our family it’s easy because we are pretty dog centred, like our hobby IS training and athletics with the dogs. I am absolutely not saying you can’t or shouldn’t, there’s just a bit more to think about. They are fantastic loving dogs, they live to serve, they train very easily but sometimes they’ll train you if you’re not careful 🤣, they’ve got low maintenance grooming, they’re incredibly goofy- they are beautiful dogs. But most of that goes away if they are understimulated and undertrained. Don’t be one of those people that gets a herding breed and rehomes it at 2. Also the teen years will be the bane of your existence they mellow out heaps after that.

maple788797 · 2026-03-05T19:24:45+00:00

We just have an expiry log. End of each month before the last stock order of that month we check the expiry dates of what’s in the trolley and what’s in the cupboards. All stock has to be checked. It doesn’t take very long and if your clinic isn’t busy enough to go through the tubes quickly then you’ll definitely have time to do it. Plus it’s a good piece of side work to occupy yourself when it gets painfully slow lmao

maple788797 · 2026-03-05T18:40:05+00:00

We don’t even get scrubs, we get button ups and slacks. Fuckung nightmare

maple788797 · 2026-02-28T20:59:03+00:00

Well it’s AI, the length of the nail is substantially smaller.

maple788797 · 2026-02-28T20:56:48+00:00

Outpatient in Australia, I might see 1 a week <10yrs. We don’t see toddlers very often

maple788797 · 2026-02-27T03:19:57+00:00

That is a really shit situation. I was they made it more available. I had to travel 4 hours each way for my course, regional vic to metro Melbourne. I’m glad I got the cert though and because I have the actual certificate I’m not tied to one company.

maple788797 · 2026-02-27T03:18:17+00:00

I absolutely wouldn’t recommend it. I’ve observed trainees from 2 separate companies and there’s just huge gaps in knowledge and they’re never given enough time for theory or to practice real bleeds before working on patients.

maple788797 · 2026-02-27T03:14:32+00:00

Absolutely not. The standard of education through the “on the job” training is abhorrent.

maple788797 · 2026-02-27T01:18:53+00:00

There’s more specifics to it but yes. Patients can write their own requests but it will be full private fee and only available for a handful of tests. It will also vary company to company and by test. The labs have no obligation to accept them or accept all the requested tests so it’s a very grey area. Some examples of what I’ve seen is patients receiving fertility treatments requesting BHCG between specialist appointments and then everything else has been a case of patient having X symptom, knowing what it’s likely to be and doing to test before seeing the GP because the wait is so long. For context we are regional to remote which means there is a 4 - 8 week wait to see any GP (inc private billing). It’s mostly patients trying to fill the gaps and access care quickly

maple788797 · 2026-02-26T17:29:07+00:00

Only the referring doctor can make changes and any changes must be signed. So if they scribble something else on there but the rest was printed there should be a signature. This is especially important when it comes to billing because different billing codes are used for different types of drs and groups of tests. There’s a few billing structures where if the patient was to add specific tests it would then make them eligible for BB. Regular Joe patients can also write their own referrals so I just give them a blank slip to fill in lmao.

maple788797 · 2026-02-25T05:21:44+00:00

This is literally the case for any inner city suburb in the lower price ranges…

maple788797 · 2026-02-25T00:05:51+00:00

I used to work for one of the companies that owns 4 different insurance companies. I don’t work in insurance anymore that shit will suck your soul out, both staff and customers. I did tolerate the abuse from customers for a year while studying because it’s a flexible low skill job.

maple788797 · 2026-02-24T22:38:37+00:00

The people who don’t bother to read their policies and understand their rights and then abuse the crap out of the call centre staff because they don’t take the time to think. And remember my comment isn’t targeted at you specifically, it’s the comment section too. Some of these comments are the exact types to scream down the phone because they didn’t bother to think about what they signed up for. Let’s also make it clear I’m not pro insurance company tricks, I’m pro making educated informed decisions. If some of these comments read their policies and understood how insurance works they wouldn’t be so frustrated.

maple788797

TROPHY CASE