Top 12 Phlebotomy Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume
A skilled phlebotomy technician anchors the flow of a clinical day—steady hands, calm presence, sharp judgment. Showcasing the top 12 phlebotomy technician skills on your resume shines a light on both the technical craft of blood collection and the human touch required to keep patients at ease. It can tilt hiring decisions your way.
Phlebotomy Technician Skills
- Venipuncture
- Capillary Collection
- Specimen Handling
- Patient Identification
- Infection Control
- Centrifugation
- Hematology Analysis
- Electrocardiography (ECG)
- Blood Typing
- Data Entry
- HIPAA Compliance
- Customer Service
1. Venipuncture
Venipuncture is the collection of blood from a vein using a needle and collection system—done safely, swiftly, and with respect for patient comfort.
Why It's Important
It’s the backbone of most lab testing. Accurate draws feed accurate results, which guide diagnoses, treatments, and follow-up care. Technique matters, and so does patient trust.
How to Improve Venipuncture Skills
Practice with purpose and keep refining the small things:
Know the anatomy: Prioritize median cubital, cephalic, and basilic veins; understand variations and when to change course.
Follow a consistent workflow: Hand hygiene, patient ID, tourniquet timing, site selection, correct needle angle, smooth tube changes, gentle release.
Train regularly: Simulation arms help. Supervised practice helps more. Repetition builds calm hands.
Seek feedback: Ask experienced techs to watch your technique and critique needle angle, anchoring, and order of draw.
Talk to patients: Clear, brief explanations reduce tension and movement. Anxiety down, success up.
Know your gear: Select appropriate needle gauge, tourniquet type, and tubes for the test menu.
Dial in the fundamentals and your first-stick success and sample quality rise together.
How to Display Venipuncture Skills on Your Resume
2. Capillary Collection
Capillary collection draws small volumes from fingertip or heel—ideal for infants, fragile veins, or quick point-of-care tests.
Why It's Important
When venous access is tricky or the test requires only a drop, capillary sampling keeps care moving with minimal discomfort.
How to Improve Capillary Collection Skills
Small volumes, big precision:
Set expectations: Explain the quick pinch, the steps, and aftercare in plain language.
Choose the right site: Ring or middle finger for adults; heel for infants (lateral/medial plantar surface only).
Warm the area: Warmth boosts blood flow. A warm compress works wonders.
Use appropriate lancets: Depth-limited, single-use, and suited to patient age and skin thickness.
Mind the technique: Puncture across fingerprint lines; wipe the first drop; avoid excessive squeezing to limit hemolysis.
Respect order of draw: If multiple micro-collection tubes are needed, follow your facility’s sequence.
Close cleanly: Apply pressure, bandage, and confirm bleeding has stopped.
Tidy collection yields cleaner results and happier patients.
How to Display Capillary Collection Skills on Your Resume
3. Specimen Handling
Specimen handling covers the life of a sample: labeling, storage, transport, processing—no mix-ups, no degradation.
Why It's Important
Even a perfect draw can be undone by poor handling. Proper chain of custody and preservation protect result integrity and patient safety.
How to Improve Specimen Handling Skills
Precision from start to finish:
Verify identity every time: Use two identifiers, confirm aloud with the patient when possible.
Label in-room: Label immediately, at the bedside, before leaving the patient.
Honor order of draw: Limit additive carryover and contamination.
Control conditions: Temperature, light protection, and timing matter. Follow test-specific requirements.
Transport promptly: Use leak-proof bags and timely delivery; document any delays.
Quality checks: Participate in competency reviews and follow current SOPs.
Communicate fast: Flag hemolysis, clots, or insufficient volume to the lab without delay.
Strong handling habits make results dependable.
How to Display Specimen Handling Skills on Your Resume
4. Patient Identification
Patient identification confirms you have the right person before any draw. No shortcuts.
Why It's Important
Misidentification leads to wrong results, wrong care, and serious harm. Simple checks, major protection.
How to Improve Patient Identification Skills
Make it a ritual you never skip:
Use two identifiers: Full name and date of birth (or MRN). Compare wristband, requisition, and verbal confirmation.
Ask, don’t suggest: Have patients state their identifiers rather than confirming what you say.
Fix wristband issues: No band or errors? Pause. Correct before drawing.
Leverage tech: Barcode scanning where available; confirm matches on screen and label.
Standardize: Follow the same steps every time, across shifts and locations.
Reinforce training: Refresh regularly and discuss near misses in safety huddles.
Consistency eliminates guesswork.
How to Display Patient Identification Skills on Your Resume
5. Infection Control
Infection control means breaking chains of transmission: hand hygiene, PPE, safe sharps, clean surfaces, and smart specimen handling.
Why It's Important
Protects patients and staff. Preserves sample quality. Keeps healthcare safe.
How to Improve Infection Control Skills
Relentless attention to basics:
Hand hygiene: Before and after each patient; soap and water when visibly soiled, alcohol-based rub otherwise.
PPE that fits the task: Gloves for all draws; masks, eye protection, or gowns when splash risk exists.
Sharps discipline: No recapping. Immediate disposal into approved containers within arm’s reach.
Surface disinfection: Clean high-touch and procedure areas on schedule and between patients with approved agents.
Specimen safety: Treat all specimens as potentially infectious; use secure, leak-proof transport.
Stay current: Refresh training, update practices with facility policies and recognized standards.
Good habits here prevent bad days everywhere.
How to Display Infection Control Skills on Your Resume
6. Centrifugation
Centrifugation spins samples so components separate—cells down, plasma or serum up—ready for testing without interference.
Why It's Important
Proper separation underpins many assays. Get it wrong and even the best draw can yield unusable results.
How to Improve Centrifugation Skills
Control the variables, protect the sample:
Match method to specimen: Use the right rotor, speed, and time for serum vs. plasma and test requirements.
Balance every run: Equal volumes opposite each other; avoid vibration and equipment damage.
Respect clot times: Allow serum tubes to clot fully before spinning to prevent fibrin strands.
Maintain equipment: Routine cleaning and calibration keep speeds accurate and runs safe.
Use quality tubes: Centrifuge-rated, intact, and within expiration dates.
Mind temperature: Some tests need cool conditions; use refrigerated centrifuges when specified.
Handle gently post-spin: Avoid remixing layers when removing caps or transferring aliquots.
Precision here pays off across the lab.
How to Display Centrifugation Skills on Your Resume
7. Hematology Analysis
Hematology analysis evaluates blood cells—counts, size, morphology—to aid diagnosis and monitor treatment. Your role: deliver pristine samples.
Why It's Important
From anemia to infection, blood disorders to therapy response, high-quality specimens drive reliable results and sound clinical decisions.
How to Improve Hematology Analysis Skills
Guard the sample so the data can speak:
Use the right tubes: EDTA for CBCs; fill to the mark to ensure proper additive ratio.
Minimize hemolysis: Gentle draws, appropriate gauge, and prompt, gentle mixing prevent cell damage.
Follow order of draw: Reduce additive carryover that can skew counts.
Label and store correctly: Full identification, correct temperature, and prompt transport to analysis.
Keep learning: Review updates to lab protocols and participate in competency assessments.
Clean preanalytics equal credible analytics.
How to Display Hematology Analysis Skills on Your Resume
8. Electrocardiography (ECG)
ECG records the heart’s electrical activity via skin electrodes. While interpretation belongs to clinicians, many techs assist with setup and recording.
Why It's Important
Basic ECG familiarity supports safe patient care, smooth workflows, and better coordination, especially in outpatient and emergency settings where roles overlap.
How to Improve Electrocardiography (ECG) Skills
Clarity in, clarity out:
Prepare the patient: Explain the process; have them relaxed, still, and comfortable to reduce artifact.
Place electrodes precisely: Landmark carefully for precordial and limb leads; skin prep matters for adhesion and signal quality.
Check the signal: Confirm baseline stability, correct lead labels, and good contact before recording.
Maintain equipment: Replace worn leads, clean connectors, and verify calibration routinely.
Build basic recognition: Learn to spot poor-quality tracings and common artifacts so you can correct and retake swiftly.
Good technique means fewer repeats and clearer results.
How to Display Electrocardiography (ECG) Skills on Your Resume
9. Blood Typing
Blood typing determines ABO group and Rh factor, ensuring transfusion compatibility and avoiding serious reactions.
Why It's Important
Correct type and screen keep patients safe during surgery, trauma care, and obstetric management.
How to Improve Blood Typing Skills
Accuracy over haste:
Collect cleanly: Right tube, full volume, and gentle mixing to prevent clots.
Label without fail: Two identifiers, at bedside, legible and complete.
Follow SOPs: Respect incubation times, reagent checks, and QC steps.
Double-verify: Cross-check patient details and specimen before submission; peer verification when policy requires.
Embrace automation where used: Understand analyzer flags and when to recollect.
Every safeguard reduces risk downstream.
How to Display Blood Typing Skills on Your Resume
10. Data Entry
Data entry means precise, timely documentation of patient demographics, orders, specimen details, and results in the LIS/EHR.
Why It's Important
Mistyped data becomes misrouted tests, delayed care, and avoidable confusion. Clean data keeps everything moving.
How to Improve Data Entry Skills
Make accuracy your habit:
Know your software: Learn shortcuts, templates, and alerts inside your EHR/LIS.
Scan when possible: Use barcodes for patient IDs and specimens to cut manual errors.
Verify before submit: Pause for a quick read-back of names, DOBs, and order codes.
Build speed safely: Touch-typing practice pays off, but never outrun your accuracy.
Standardize naming: Follow facility conventions for notes and comments so teams can find what they need fast.
Right data, right place, right away.
How to Display Data Entry Skills on Your Resume
11. HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA compliance means safeguarding protected health information—spoken, written, or electronic—during every step of your workflow.
Why It's Important
Privacy builds trust. Security prevents breaches. Both are nonnegotiable in healthcare.
How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills
Protect patient information like it’s your own:
Know the rules: Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification requirements—understand what they demand of daily practice.
Use minimum necessary: Access only the information needed to do the job at hand.
Secure records: Screen locks, strong passwords, clean desks, and locked storage where required.
Watch your voice: Discuss PHI in private areas; avoid hallways, elevators, and waiting rooms.
Report quickly: If something seems off—a misdirected fax, a lost label—follow the breach reporting process immediately.
Train and retrain: Annual refreshers and scenario-based drills keep compliance sharp.
Daily vigilance prevents costly mistakes.
How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume
12. Customer Service
Customer service is the human side of phlebotomy—clear communication, empathy, and steady professionalism before, during, and after the draw.
Why It's Important
People remember how you made them feel. A calmer patient moves less, bleeds less, and leaves more satisfied. It’s good care and good outcomes.
How to Improve Customer Service Skills
Small changes, big difference:
Set the tone: Greet by name; explain what you’re doing and how long it’ll take.
Use trauma-informed care: Ask for consent, offer choice of arm when possible, and narrate each step to reduce fear.
Mind the environment: Comfortable seating, privacy, and a tidy space lower anxiety.
Stay composed: If a stick fails, reset calmly, reassess, and communicate the plan.
Invite feedback: Quick check-ins—“How was that for you?”—help you adjust and improve.
Kindness and competence travel together.
How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume
