Phlebotomy by House Officers

Background: Phlebotomy is a highly complex technique, requiring knowledge and skill to perform. In advanced societies, all phlebotomists undergo a wellstructured training with certification.Objective: This study examines the practice of phlebotomy by house-officers (HO) in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, as part of expediency in health service delivery.Methodology: Self-administered questionnaires were obtained from 54 Ghanaian trained HOs (out of a total of 85 HOs) from four main departments of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in December 2010. Data obtained were analysed statistically using SPSS(Version 12; SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA) programme.Results: There were 54 HOs who had worked for a minimum of six months. Thirty-five (64.5%) of them felt that venesection was not their job description. Forty-nine (90.2%) received no formal training and 40 (74.1%) received informal training in phlebotomyduring Medical School. Thirty 32 (59.3%) used the dorsum of the hand as the main site for venesection and 25 (46.5%) did not know avoidable sites during venesection. Fifty-three (98.1%) did not check for allergies to antiseptics and adhesives before performingvenesection. Thirty-seven (68.5%) did not know the names of all the additives in the various sample bottles and 29 (53.7%) did not understand the colour coding of the sample bottles. In addition, 34 (63.0%) did not know the blood volume required for all the varioustests. Twenty-nine (53.7%) did not know that laboratory results of analytes were affected by patient's posture.Conclusion: Training in the Medical School does not adequately prepare the House Officer to carry out phlebotomy competently and efficiently.