Medical Technician, Phlebotomist

About the Role

Incumbent serves as a Medical Technician (Phlebotomist) in Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Service (P&MLS) at the Iowa City VA Health Care System. The technician performs phlebotomy in the outpatient care area of the hospital, along with various computer, customer service, instruction, and communication tasks. A recruitment incentive may be authorized for highly qualified applicants.

Key Responsibilities

• Follows procedures for patient identification, sample procurement, and specimen labeling.
• Performs routine venipuncture specimen collections from patients.
• Follows laboratory procedures for collecting specimens in the appropriate container.
• Controls the physical condition of samples and responds to time factors to ensure specimen integrity.
• Provides education to patients for proper collection techniques.
• Prepares samples for testing (labeling, centrifugation, decanting, aliquoting).
• Maintains adequate supplies for phlebotomy and specimen procurement.
• Answers incoming calls for the laboratory service, relays information, or refers callers to technical personnel.
• Performs cleaning of glassware and other reusable items.
• Identifies and appropriately responds to adverse reactions (fainting, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, arrests).
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• English Language Proficiency: Must be proficient in basic written and spoken English.
• Selective Placement Factor: Experience performing phlebotomy, including venipuncture and capillary blood collection, on human patients in a clinical or healthcare setting.
• Specialized Experience: At least 6 months of general experience and 6 months of specialized experience.
• General experience: Demonstrates ability to perform the work or familiarity with the subject matter/processes of the occupation.
• Specialized experience: Technical medical laboratory support work (e.g., performing laboratory tests and examinations) or technical support work in a closely related field requiring application of the methods and techniques for the position.
• Education Substitution:
• Completion of an associate degree program where the second year included a training course of approximately one year in a certified laboratory assistant school.
• One year of study including 6 semester hours in chemistry and/or biological sciences, plus completion of a full-time training course of approximately one year in a medical/clinical laboratory assistant (or technician) school, including supervised laboratory practice.
• Two years of study including at least 12 semester hours of chemistry and/or biological science coursework directly related to the position's specialization. (Transcripts must be submitted at time of application.)
• Combination: A combination of specialized experience and education beyond high school.

Physical Requirements

• Requires manual dexterity and exceptional hand/eye coordination.
• Involves regular and recurring walking, reaching, bending, and standing for several consecutive hours.
• Work is performed at a fast pace.
• Requires occasional lifting of reagent/supply containers weighing up to 20 pounds.

Work Environment

• Involves regular and recurring moderate risks or discomforts requiring special safety precautions.
• Employees are required to use protective clothing/gear (masks, gowns, lab coats, respirators, gloves, shields).
• Regularly exposed to biohazardous material encountered in a clinical laboratory.
• Daily exposure to potentially infectious patients or materials.
• Occasional exposure to hazardous materials.
• Requires adherence to safety and standard precautions.
• Frequent contact with patients with undiagnosed illnesses; potential exposure to communicable disease.
• Mandated to use appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

Work Schedule

• Monday-Friday, 7:00 am - 3:30 pm OR 8:00 am - 4:30 pm

Other Information

• Recruitment Incentive: May be authorized for highly qualified applicants.
• Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized.
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.