My job has no meaning

[PHLEBOTOMIST_TO_RN]

I have been a Phlebotomist for many years and will be done with nursing school this fall, but I am getting to the end of my rope with what I do for a few reasons. I have worked many different types of facilities all over the U.S. both large and small and there is always one underlying thing I have noticed at each one of them and that is the nursing staff thinks the lab is "uneducated" and "unimportant." This is a strange thing considering most of the MT’s have a higher education then many of the RN’s on the floor yet get treated like high school drop outs. Yet time and time again I see and hear how the staff nurses treat and talk about the laboratory as if the hospital could survive without them...how arrogant is that? One place I worked took away the Labs shift differential to work extra shifts, but let the RN's and PT's keep theirs.... WHY? What do the higher ups think we do with all the specimens the nurses give us??? Are we not just as important? Just because they do not "touch" the p.t. directly does not mean that their job is unimportant, however, that is the general idea that comes across. So if they treat someone who has a masters or bachelors degree like that imagine how someone who "just draws blood" gets treated up there. There have been countless times where a nurse told me to my face that " your job is irrelevant" for no other reason then to be a *****. Funny how that is because when they stick a p.t. about 10 times to get a sample and fail who do they ultimately call? The lab of course to bail them out. I think this may be an America thing as I work with many people in my lab who are from all over the world, and a majority say that America is about the only place where the laboratory is not respected. In fact they themselves have been told they are on the level of the cooks and house keeping ( that is something else entirely just think of the hell that would happen if you did not have those people as well doing the work they do.) I know there are probably not many lab people on this forum, but I would like to get a view on this anyways. People think the RN field has a shortage just wait when there is a MT shortage, but no one talks about that.

As a personal note I think alot of this has to do with the fact many of the RN's are not familiar with the day to day operations of how the lab works. Many get the idea we just press buttons all day with out any thought. FAR from the truth.

[jannrn]

wow, I have tons of respect for phlebotomy! I consider them the experts in what they do, and quite often they bail me out of a difficult 'stick'! (we don't have them, but one comes in from the lab to pick our specimens up. She's a lifesaver and has tons of info, I am always asking her questions regarding our labs! Sorry to hear of your bad experience. If they lost you guys they'd certainly be missing you!

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

Blame it on ignorance plus bad attitude. Many nurses are not aware of who works in the lab and what education is required. The only people they meet are the phlebotomists who, by the way, are young and studying to do something else. That says the job sucks because they don't tend to stay in it. The only way to combat ignorance is thru education. Bad attitudes - best to avoid them. They can't be taught.

[kat911]

Can you clear up exactly what your job is? In our hospital there are phlebotomists who were hired off the street, given some training on drawing blood and let loose on the patients, many of them have no skill. These are the ones the nursing staff deal with day after day. The lab Techs are the trained and educated personnel who actually run the specimens for Chemistry, Hematology, etc. There is a big difference between the two jobs. The Techs are rarely seen outside of lab and have very little to do with the nursing staff except to call critical values. They are an important part of the health care team. The phlebotomists, let me just say there is not much respect for them because of the lack of training and some of them just are not helpful. Here the nursing staff must draw the labs unless the draw occurs at a specific time when the lab tech makes rounds. It is aggravating and frustrating that the lab gets the draw fee but the nurses actually do the job. Not necessarily fair to the phlebotomists but the really good ones who stick around are well known to the floors and they have the respect of the nurses.

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

Sorry you feel that way. I've never had those attitudes or feelings as you describe towards phlebs.

[PANurseRN1]

Neither have I. I guess I'm a little unclear as to why the OP would come here and have a full blown rant against nurses and then expect support. Don't phlebotomists have a BB to discuss issues?

I realize the OP is a nursing student, but I do not get the point of the thread.

[natrgrrl]

Would it do any good to stand up for yourself? Maybe? I'm sorry you're feeling so down. If it makes you feel any better, other educated hospital staff get similar treatment sometimes. My husband (BS degree in Police Management) works in security and the ER nurses in particular seem to be repulsed by EVERYONE other than ER nurses.

Remember, no one is perfect and stress can make people act in ways they normally wouldn't.

I hope you feel better.

[prmenrs, RN]

I think you need a PR campaign. If people don't know who you are and what you do, and the importance of it (how do they manage pts w/o those lab #s??), they can't value it.

Maybe you and a couple of other co-workers could work on some poster presentations, highlighting individuals, their qualifications and their role in the "big picture". Posters could be placed @ the entrance to the cafeteria or the lobby. Or, a write-up in the hospital newsletter?

A little education goes a long way. @ least IMHO.

[Crocuta, RN]

When I was hired as a new grad into my current hospital, my first week was spent in outrotation to every different department in the hospital. I spent a full day in lab learning how they do their work, they showed me the best practice for draws and sample collection. I was shown how the microbiologist processes samples and how all the different labs are run. I spent about an hour that day with the lab department head and he told me everything that he wanted me to know about his department. Now when I pick up the phone and ask for something stat, I can picture in my mind exactly what goes on from the time I put down the phone until my printer spits out a result. I find that it gave me far more respect for the lab, and I think that they respect us more for coming down and spending that time with them. (It was also pretty fun loading chems, and doing manual diffs, etc etc.)

In addition, I spent time with nutrition and the patient cafeteria, pharmacy, housekeeping, radiology, pastoral care, social services, and so on, and it wasn't just sitting around watching them work - to the greatest extent possible, I was to do their job. I even spent a half day with my new department head seeing everything that he does in a day.

Some of the nurses grumble about it being a waste of time, but I found it amazing, and it opened my eyes to how every department works together to provide total care to our patients. I just think that it should be expanded and have every new lab tech, housekeeper and kitchen aide running around after nurses for a day!

Seriously, what you have is a culture problem. There's a lack of institutional respect and I would bet that it's not just between lab and nurses. It probably pervades every relationship in your facility.

[CapeCoralNurse2be]

I'm currently a first year nursing student, but I was a phlebotomist for quite a number of years and I do agree that at times we "peons" were treated badly by nursing staff. However for the most part, I personally was treated much worse by the docs than the nurses. I was very well trained and very good at my job so I didn't run into a whole lot of trouble. I've worked at both large hospitals and smaller community hospitals. I never saw the attitude you describe directed at the MT's though, at least not in any of the facilities that I worked in. Any bad treatment I received from other staff was mainly when I was new at my job and still unsure of myself, but once I became very proficient at it I was often called upon by nurses to help them with vein location and assistance in starting IVs because they grew to know that I was very good at what I did. Now this was in the years prior to IV teams and such, it used to be the Phlebs that got called upon for help with difficult sticks. I agree that a lot of the Phlebs today are poorly trained and it reflects badly on that line of work in general unfortunately, and of course since it's the Phlebs that the other staff sees routinely and not so much the MT's, they probably don't get the true picture, that the lab is actually run and manned by some pretty brilliant minds. I've worked with some absolutely amazing, highly educated people that had such a vast array of knowledge. To sit and talk with them, would blow your mind. It's unfortunate that in a lot of facilities the different departments don't see each other as one big team of equals.

[PHLEBOTOMIST_TO_RN]

Seriously, what you have is a culture problem. There's a lack of institutional respect and I would bet that it's not just between lab and nurses. It probably pervades every relationship in your facility.

Exactly...........I hate to say it, but basically our facility treats the nurses as gods and if you ever disagree with them you will be fired by the head director of the facility but never the other way around...we have several documented cases of it. its not just if the lab has a problem with them its EVERYONE ...never say ANYTHING.....(PT,RT, anyone) The nurses cant do it all, but if they want to let them by all means...heads will be rolling and it wont be mine.

[Cattitude]

exactly...........i hate to say it, but basically our facility treats the nurses as gods and if you ever disagree with them you will be fired by the head director of the facility

ok, there is absolutely no way you work in america!!! :lol2:

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[color=#483d8b]they treat nurses like gods??? seriously? i wanna work there:nurse: .

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[color=#483d8b]as to your original post, i've not seen any nurses treat phlebotomy that way, it really does sound like it's your facility that has quite an issue. good luck in your studies and chin up.

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