What does a medical assistant/phlebotomist do?

Medical assistants/phlebotomists are medical personnel who execute administrative and clinical tasks in healthcare facilities or units. They are responsible for providing healthcare to patients such as immunization administration, orthopedic supplies, and wound care. It is part of their job to take the blood of patients for blood testing. They also take charge of handling other medical tests for the upkeep of patients' health. These professionals should exhibit compatibility, initiative, and cohesiveness within the team.
Medical assistant/phlebotomist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real medical assistant/phlebotomist resumes:
- Demonstrate clinical competency and compassion in providing care, using technology, performing procedures and managing emergencies.
- Provide back-office support, inventory control, training and supervision to ensure compliance with HIPAA and OSHA regulations.
- Used CPR training on several occasions.
- Assist physician in the operating room during surgery and delivery.
- Validate and ensure that forms for the releases of information are current, accurate and complete as defined by HIPAA.
- Sanitize equipment and follow OSHA guidelines.
- Provide compassion and enthusiasm for busy, establish family practice.
- Perform pediatric respiratory therapy, urinalysis testing, pediatric CPT precursor.
- Interview patients to obtain and record relevant medical information, such as medical/surgical history.
- Obtain venipuncture and capillary specimens, ensuring proper patient identification and labeling of samples.
- Perform vitals/glucose testing; assist in administering injections, suture removal, and analyzing urinalysis.
- Review case statistics and create PowerPoint presentations that include up to date yearly statistical information.
- Participate in hospital rounds, observe proper scrub-in technique, and observe numerous catheter procedures.
- Perform various diagnostic procedures and ancillary tests (electrocardiogram, chemistry analysis, and urinalysis).
- Fulfill EMT on-call duties for ambulance transports for diagnostic tests/transfers patients to tertiary facilities/higher echelon of care.
Medical assistant/phlebotomist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 17% of Medical Assistant/Phlebotomists are proficient in Patients, Vital Signs, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Interpersonal skills, and Technical skills.
We break down the percentage of Medical Assistant/Phlebotomists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 17%
Fulfilled EMT on-call duties for ambulance transports for diagnostic tests/transfers patients to tertiary facilities/higher echelon of care.
- Vital Signs, 7%
Performed basic patient assessment procedures including vital signs, infection disease control, and universal precautions.
- Customer Service, 6%
Executed donor care and conducted equipment quality control while delivering excellent customer service and adhering to company standards.
- Blood Pressure, 6%
Determine suitability of donor to include reviewing health related documents and taking vital signs including blood pressure pulse and temperature.
- Office Procedures, 4%
Experienced in assisting Physician with clinical in-office procedure preparation.
- Venipuncture, 4%
Determine specimen requirements and collect patient sample using appropriate process of venipuncture or capillary collection based on patient age and/or condition.
"patients," "vital signs," and "customer service" are among the most common skills that medical assistant/phlebotomists use at work. You can find even more medical assistant/phlebotomist responsibilities below, including:
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a medical assistant/phlebotomist to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what medical assistant/phlebotomists do because "medical assistants must be able to understand and follow medical charts and diagnoses." Additionally, a medical assistant/phlebotomist resume shows how medical assistant/phlebotomists use analytical skills: "prepared, processed, labeled and stored patient specimens and samples according to analysis by clinical laboratory staff. "
Interpersonal skills. Many medical assistant/phlebotomist duties rely on interpersonal skills. "medical assistants need to be able to discuss patient information with other medical personnel, such as physicians," so a medical assistant/phlebotomist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways medical assistant/phlebotomist responsibilities rely on interpersonal skills: "general medical assisting knowledge includes anatomy and physiology, medical terminology, medical law/ethics, and interpersonal communications. "
Technical skills. This is an important skill for medical assistant/phlebotomists to perform their duties. For an example of how medical assistant/phlebotomist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "medical assistants should be able to use basic clinical instruments so they can take a patient’s vital signs, such as heart rate and blood pressure." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a medical assistant/phlebotomist: "executed clinical and technical phlebotomy as well as hiv testing through rapid testing oral fluid or taking blood samples. ".
Detail oriented. medical assistant/phlebotomist responsibilities often require "detail oriented." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "medical assistants need to be precise when taking vital signs or recording patient information." This resume example shows what medical assistant/phlebotomists do with detail oriented on a typical day: "prepared blood collection equipment, verified medical records with accuracy,paying attention to detail. "
The three companies that hire the most medical assistant/phlebotomists are:
- Life Line Screening44 medical assistant/phlebotomists jobs
- Biolife Plasma Services20 medical assistant/phlebotomists jobs
- Ideal Option17 medical assistant/phlebotomists jobs
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Medical assistant/phlebotomist vs. Medical scribe
As a medical scribe, their main responsibility is to follow a physician's daily work and do charting of patient encounters in real-time by accessing their medical electronic health record (EHR). It is their duty to make sure the patient schedules are followed, generate referral letters for physicians and manage and sort medical documents within the EHR. Medical scribes can be held as data custodians, medical assistants, and nurses to focus on patient in-take and care throughout clinic hours. In addition, they manage patient flow through the clinic and increase productivity to cater to more patients.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, medical assistant/phlebotomist responsibilities require skills like "customer service," "blood pressure," "office procedures," and "venipuncture." Meanwhile a typical medical scribe has skills in areas such as "medical terminology," "excellent organizational," "physician assistants," and "strong work ethic." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Medical scribes really shine in the health care industry with an average salary of $29,968. Comparatively, medical assistant/phlebotomists tend to make the most money in the finance industry with an average salary of $35,745.On average, medical scribes reach similar levels of education than medical assistant/phlebotomists. Medical scribes are 2.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Medical assistant/phlebotomist vs. Optometric assistant
An optometric assistant performs a variety of support tasks to assist optometrists and maintain a smooth flow of operations at clinics. They typically greet clients and identify their eye and vision care needs, answer inquiries, gather patient histories and other information, prepare and assist the clients for vision tests, and administer eye drops. They may also perform clerical tasks such as processing documents, organizing files, handling calls and correspondence, liaising with external partners such as suppliers and vendors, and updating databases. Moreover, an optometric assistant may also adjust and repair glasses, all according to the clients' needs.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real medical assistant/phlebotomist resumes. While medical assistant/phlebotomist responsibilities can utilize skills like "office procedures," "venipuncture," "strong customer service," and "phlebotomy procedures," optometric assistants use skills like "visual acuity," "visual fields," "vision examination," and "r."
Optometric assistants earn a higher average salary than medical assistant/phlebotomists. But optometric assistants earn the highest pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $82,759. Additionally, medical assistant/phlebotomists earn the highest salaries in the finance with average pay of $35,745 annually.In general, optometric assistants achieve similar levels of education than medical assistant/phlebotomists. They're 0.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for medical assistant/phlebotomists in the next 3-5 years?
The electronic health record (EHR) integration continues to build in decision aids and artificial intelligence for making better decisions. The EHR has made accessing patient information more available to other practitioners and patients themselves. Another technology that will continue to expand in use is a point of care testing (POC). POC allows for greater flexibility to meet the patient wherever they are, and will see continued expansion. And perhaps, the technology that has indeed expanded, out of necessity during the pandemic, is telehealth.
While telehealth has been available for many years, particularly in rural areas, it wasn't nearly as common in high population areas--patients were expected to go to the provider. Telehealth can eliminate many unnecessary "non-emergency" visits to emergency rooms and can be available, quite easily, in off-hours.
Medical assistant/phlebotomist vs. Phlebotomist
Phlebotomists are workers in the medical field who specialize in drawing blood from patients. They ensure that patients are prepared by explaining the procedure to them, showing them tools they will use and where their blood will be stored, and answering any questions the patients may have. Phlebotomists then draw blood from the patient, patch up the area where the blood was drawn, and store the blood samples in properly labeled vials or blood bags. After the procedure, they send the blood samples to the laboratory for testing, transfusion, or any other use that there may be.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a medical assistant/phlebotomist is likely to be skilled in "office procedures," "venipuncture," "perform ekg," and "cleanliness," while a typical phlebotomist is skilled in "data entry," "dexterity," "standing orders," and "fda."
Phlebotomists make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $34,086. On the other hand, medical assistant/phlebotomists are paid the highest salary in the finance industry, with average annual pay of $35,745.Most phlebotomists achieve a similar degree level compared to medical assistant/phlebotomists. For example, they're 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Medical assistant/phlebotomist vs. Student medical assistant-externship
Student Medical Assistant Externship is a broad term for catering students for short, reliable, and practical work experience. Once you graduate, you can get a chance to meet contacts that may be useful for your career. You can have a better chance to work in a clinic, hospital, and any medical platform after going through this kind of externship.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between medical assistant/phlebotomists and student medical assistant-externships, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a medical assistant/phlebotomist might have more use for skills like "customer service," "strong customer service," "phlebotomy procedures," and "perform ekg." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of student medical assistant-externships require skills like "ekg," "data entry," "surgery," and "urinalysis. "
Student medical assistant-externships reach similar levels of education compared to medical assistant/phlebotomists, in general. The difference is that they're 3.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of medical assistant/phlebotomist
Updated January 8, 2025











