Patients are almost never happy to see phlebotomists, but team members at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Alliance say they love their jobs because of personal interaction and sharing at the bedside.
The pace is intense in the latest COVID-19 surge, with three phlebotomists doing the daily 4 a.m. “morning run” of blood draws for the entire 150-bed hospital as well as the emergency department. They don and doff personal protective equipment to enter isolation rooms several times a day. Phlebotomists also act as soon as orders are placed, at times pulling patients from waiting rooms to make sure labs are drawn and testing is started, if not finished, before the patient sees a physician again in a room.
“It’s incredible when you look at the number of timed studies and stats,” said Alicia Rizzo, MSHM, LSSBB, MT (ASCP), lab director. “A lot of the time they’re working with two people in the ED as well as the entire house. The amount of work they accomplish is just mind-blowing.”
While the house and emergency department phlebotomists are drawing blood, another works in the lab handling
transfers, pathology samples, phone calls and processing all incoming samples, as well as providing support and overseeing workflow.
“This team has done phenomenal work throughout the hospital,” said Clint Abernathy, hospital president. “Like all of our care teams, they put patients first and serve with heart.”
‘You follow their stories’
What drives them? Their hearts for patient care.
“The contact with the patient is first — the sticking just comes off to the side almost,” said Denise Dwyer, CLA, a phlebotomist for 12 years, nine of them for Texas Health Resources. “You get to know them, sometimes for consecutive days in a row, so you follow their stories.”
Kara Farra, CLA, below, added, “I talk to everyone — I like people’s stories. Story time is my favorite part of work. I try to joke around with people. If they laugh, it makes me feel good, too.”
Sometimes patient time is more serious. Jennifer Buckley, CLA, said she enjoys praying with patients.
“I like to be specific when I pray,” she said. “I know what’s going on with patients so I know what to pray for. That’s humbling for me. And sometimes I get prayed for.”
Dwyer said prayer has been more frequent since the pandemic began.
“They’re very grateful for us even having contact with them,” she said. “It’s so sad when they say that.” She said even gravely ill patients have appreciated the personal interaction.
Taking care of each other
Summer is usually a slow time for the team, with about half the patient numbers of what they’re seeing now.
“In a regular summer with no COVID when I’m driving home I still have energy,” Farra said. “Now I drive home and my mouth is open and I don’t even realize it until I hit Lake Worth and I close my mouth and I’m like, ‘Oh.’ I’m in a stupor.”
The answer at work is leaning on each other.
“If you can’t laugh, you would be crying because of what you see and what they talk to you about,” Dwyer said. “Joking with these guys has been a godsend.”
