Phlebotomy Training for Clinical Research Staff

Is performing phlebotomy part of your job? Do you need to draw blood for protocol specific assessments on your study subjects? Do you lack phlebotomy training and experience? If so, a phlebotomy course specific to the needs of clinical research staff is being offered.

You are eligible to take this course if you are employed by the UNC School of Medicine or UNC Health as research staff and are required to draw blood as part of your job. This course is not required by the University, rather it fulfills the 21CFR312 requirement that a PI be able to show that study staff are adequately trained to perform a study procedure delegated to them (phlebotomy, in this case).

You are eligible to take this course if you are a UNC School of Medicine employee whose primary role is as research staff. Currently, we are not able to offer this course to students, clinical staff who may obtain training through the hospital, or those who are not UNC employees.

This two-session course covers:

• The process for safely completing adult venipuncture for research purposes
• The supplies needed to successfully complete the venipuncture
• Prevention and management of potential complications when performing venipuncture

This course provides group instruction, practice sessions with artificial arms and living individuals, quiz exercises and a short test. Enrollment is available to UNC research staff at no cost. Those who satisfactorily complete the course will receive a certificate of completion. Attendance at both sessions is mandatory for satisfactory completion of the course as is willingness to volunteer your veins for practice during the classes.

Completing this course does not qualify students as “Certified Phlebotomists” nor does it qualify the student to take the phlebotomy certification exam.

This course introduces the basic procedures for drawing blood samples from adult participants for clinical research purposes. It covers preparing supplies, preparing the study participant, key questions to ask study participants before taking samples, order of drawing blood samples, selecting a site for drawing blood from the arm, insertion and removal of 2 types of needles (butterfly and straight), universal precautions in taking and handling blood samples, proper tube labeling, and care of the study participant after the blood draw.

The course requires attendance for 1 day on 2 consecutive weeks and will be offered 3 times per year (typically in February, June, and October).

If you are not already on the UNC NRP listserv, please click here to sign up. Upcoming session announcements will be shared via the listserv.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Catherine Barnes at catherine_barnes@med.unc.edu.

Acknowledgements:
This training program is the result of a collaboration of the Office of Clinical Trials, Network for Research Professionals (NRP), Education-Innovation-Simulation Learning Environment (EISLE) at the School of Nursing, NC TraCS Institute, Health Sciences Library and Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.