Boasting a workforce of nearly 24,000 across Australia, pathology is one of the fastest-growing fields in the country’s vast health and community services sector. Pathology specimens and results such as blood tests and urine, saliva and tissue are valuable sources of important information that provide the basis for diagnosis, infection prevention and treatment of patients by physicians and other medical professionals. Pathology collectors, or phlebotomists, are an essential component of this process and the field of pathology.
What is the Role of Pathology Collectors or Phlebotomists?
Pathologists provide a wide spectrum of services to almost every area of clinical medicine. As trained medical scientists, clinical pathologists are saddled with the responsibility of researching various kinds of diseases or infections concerning their causative factors and likely effects. They help find out the reasons behind diseases and infections, the effects of these diseases on body cells or tissues, as well as their signs and symptoms. All these examinations help them to eventually come up with a diagnosis. Not only that, but they also assist physicians to develop suitable treatment plans for patients in addition to helping monitor and manage patients' health. However, in order to do that, they need support and help from pathology collectors.
Below are some of the primary responsibilities of pathology collectors:
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Planning their day based on the urgency of specimen collections.
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Identifying patients and their personal information.
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Ensuring their samples are of gold-standard quality.
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Reassuring and communicating with patients.
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Using medical equipment for venous blood collection and other types of specimen collections.
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Labelling specimens correctly
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Keeping accurate records
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Provide relevant and useful post care information to patients.
Why a Pathology Career?
Pathology is fundamentally important to all aspects of clinical medicine because it covers every area of patient care, diagnostic testing, and treatment options. Pathologists utilise science and technology to engage in experiments, diagnoses, and other clinical procedures aimed at either preventing or effectively treating diseases to save lives.
Here are some reasons to choose a career in the field of pathology.
Clinical and practical experience
A lot of healthcare workers (i.e. registered nurses) require clinical experience and practical skills in a conducive environment. Because of its foundational essence to healthcare, pathology courses are a necessity for those intending to become healthcare professionals and even already practising healthcare workers.
At All Health Training, one of these pathology courses, the HLT37215 Certificate III in Pathology Collection, offers you a quick avenue to realise your dreams of becoming a pathology collector. With this course, you’ll acquire essential practical training, technical skills and experience that will propel you to more senior roles in the future.
Plenty of Viable Career Opportunities
Pathology courses such as the above-mentioned HLT37215 Certificate III in Pathology collection can position you for a multiplicity of employment opportunities in the health industry. There is a high demand for Pathology collectors and phlebotomists in Australia and all over the world, thanks to the huge effort they make to save lives. Pathology collectors and phlebotomists can work in several public and private health sector facilities, such as hospitals, medical centres, research centres, laboratories, pathology collection centres and hospitals.
How do Pathology collectors and Phlebotomists Contribute to Saving Lives?
As noted earlier, pathology collectors and phlebotomists have numerous responsibilities aimed at prolonging lives for as long as possible. Take the case of cancer, for example. Pathology collectors play an important role in the testing, diagnosis, treatment, and management of all forms of cancer. One important condition for effectively nipping cancer in the bud is early screening and detection. Statistics indicate that, when combined with HPV vaccination, pathology screening techniques for cervical cancer can lower the rate of cervical cancer in Australia by up to 20 per cent. Australia’s cervical cancer screening programs rank among the best in the world. This makes the country boast the world’s lowest cervical cancer rate.
Pathology testing also contributes significantly to the early detection of prostate cancer, one of Australia’s leading cancers among men. Pathologists have helped in developing a procedure known as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, which facilitates the early detection of prostate cancer in men.
Another example is in the area of bowel cancer, where Australia’s National Bowel Cancer Screening Program plays a pivotal role in diagnosing bowel cancer early. Under the program, people’s faecal samples are taken to a lab to examine the existence or otherwise of blood in their faeces. If blood is detected in their faeces, then the concerned people are subjected to further examination because the blood in the faeces is one of the early signs of bowel cancer. Diagnosing bowel cancer is possible by removing a biopsy during an exploratory colonoscopy and then having it microscopically examined by a pathologist who is trained to find out if the patient’s sample has cancer-causing cells.
What Skills Are Needed by Pathology Collectors?
Strong interpersonal skills, communication skills, patience, and empathy for patients are some necessary skills a pathology collector needs to succeed. In addition to these, a clinical phlebotomist also needs excellent organisational skills, customer service skills, a habit of ensuring accuracy when documenting and labelling samples, the ability to work independently and within a group, as well as being a capable problem solver.
How do You Become a Pathology Collector or Phlebotomist?
Pathology collection is a holistically rewarding career. It offers you opportunities to contribute to saving people’s lives through diagnosis and treatment. The HLT37215 Certificate III in Pathology Collection is one of the best ways to become a phlebotomist.
This 22-week pathology course equips participants with the essential skills needed to work proficiently in all segments of pathology collection through a range of core units and a hybrid delivery mode. Upon successful completion of the course you’ll have learnt:
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Service to customers
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Workplace health and safety
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Clinical risks
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Risks in pathology collection
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Control policies
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Pathology collection techniques
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Phlebotomy
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Electrocardiography (ECG)
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Health and safety procedures
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Infection control
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Medical terminology
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First aid
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Visiting clients in their place of residence
Book a chat with All Health Training today for information about eligibility, student tuition fees, hours per week needed and how you can start your application process for the HLT37215 Certificate III in Pathology Collection.
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