Plasma Center Nurses

I'm a nurse now, but worked at a plasma center years ago, before nursing, as a manager. I can tell you a little about it.

There were three areas in our plasma center that required certification by the center: Registration -where we screened the patients, did H&H and UA testing, etc; phlebotomy - where the actual donation was done; and plasma processing - where we processed the bottles, processed any blood tubes needed for lab testing, shipped plasma and lab samples,etc.

The RNs at our center were certified in all these areas, but were primarly responsible for inital assessments of new donors. They met with every one to do histories, a physical exam, etc to make sure they were healthy enough to donate. I think donors had to be re-assessed annually too. They were also around for emergency or reaction situations. Sometimes they'd step in and help with other roles if we were short-handed. If memory serves me correctly, a licensed person had to be present in the center at all times. I think, (but I'm not sure) that the RN was responsible for notifying donors of any abnormal lab results (ie, positive HIV, STD tests, drug screens, etc.) and why he or she could not donate. And of course he or she always could turn away a donor if she felt he or she was lying about drug use, etc.

As far as the working environment, it depends a lot on where your center is located and how it is managed. I trained for over a month at a center located near a large universty. The clientele was mostly students and the manager was very good. It was a fun place to work. My center was also located near a university but we were more urban. We had more of the stereotypical plasma donor and not as many students as you'd think. We had a harder time keeping qualified staff as well, so stress was always higher among staff. I wasn't the general manager, but did have to handle scheduling, etc. I felt like I was managing a fast food restuarant and learned quickly I hated that type of work. (I'll never be an ANM or NM. I don't want to even be charge!)

The donors were a mixed bag like anywhere. Some were great, glad to see them every week. Some were unreasonable at times.

I imagine that if you enjoy talking to people, doing assessments, reading between the lines to judge the honesty of a person, etc. It's a fairly low stress job, maybe even a little boring. If you don't like working in the "fast food" environment where we always seem to be short staffed and employees gripe when someone calls in, then maybe its not for you. (Oh wait...that sounds like the floor I work on.....)

I really enjoyed working with the more "medical" stuff, doing the three stations, etc., one of the reasons I decided to try nursing. I didn't like the paperwork and scheduling responsibilities. (The biggest portion of my job.)

I hope this helps. Good Luck

Mappers - thanks so much for your reply. Just wanted to get some various viewpoints and this helps a great deal. Thanks again.

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