Phlebotomist is a health care professional who is trained in drawing venous blood for testing or donation. He is in much demand in hospitals and blood banks. The job of a phlebotomist stands out because among the medical jobs because of its scope and competitive requirements. The salary for such a professional is seeing an upward trend. Following is the description of the job profile of phlebotomist.

There are some standard procedures and rules of drawing blood from patients. A phlebotomist has to follow them strictly. He has to be careful about hygiene while drawing out blood as any carelessness may lead patient to suffer from infection. He starts the blood drawing procedure by sterilizing the syringe as well as the spot on the patient’s skin with an antiseptic put on a cotton ball. He then places a tourniquet as a precautionary measure. He makes sure that the phlebotomy region is kept clean and ensures that there is sufficient supply of the materials required for carrying out the procedure and controlling any mishappening.

The phlebotomist takes care that he has verified the identity of the donor. This avoids unnecessary complications and legal hassles. He is supposed to explain the entire blood drawing procedure to the donor and make him feel comfortable. He is supposed to maintain the cleanliness of the tray and other materials involved. The phlebotomist works in close association with other health care professionals like nurses and doctors in the work place.

The work of a phlebotomist does not stop at withdrawal of the blood from the patient. His duties also include preparation of the sample for further reference and research done by them o other professionals. He puts a label of the name of the patient on the tube containing his blood sample. This is the complete job description of a phlebotomist.

Mothers who don’t breast-feed their children are at a comparatively higher risk of developing type-2 diabetes later in life than who breast-feed. This is the finding of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the cells of the body gradually lose their sensitivity to insulin. This particular illness is often linked to obesity.

The researchers from the mentioned University studied about 2, 200 women. They were over 45 years of age. They found that 27 per cent of women who didn’t breast-fed developed type-2 diabetes. It was almost double the rate among women who did breast-feeding or never gave birth.

According to the researchers, the difference between the groups was there even after they prepared the statistics by taking age, levels of physical activity, race and body-mass index into account. “Diet and exercise are widely known to impact the risk of type-2 diabetes, but few people realize that breast-feeding also reduces mothers’ risk of developing the disease later in life by decreasing maternal belly fat”, said Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz in a news release from the University.

He is an assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology, and obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Schwarz also said, “Our study provides another good reason to encourage women to breast-feed their infants, at least for the infant’s first month of life.”