Clinical Lab Assistant - Phlebotomist - UH 4th St. Clinic, (1727)

Schedule

Monday–Friday 0800–1700 with 1-hour lunch; other shifts as needed.

Location

UH 4th St. Clinic

About the role

The Clinical Lab Assistant Phlebotomist works independently with minimal supervision and performs one or more identified modalities. Compensation scales with the number of modalities performed. Candidates without experience may enter a paid apprenticeship level.

Essential Functions

• Perform duties professionally and courteously.
• Maintain supplies and inventory for departmental functions.
• Observe students and/or new staff as needed.
• Apply basic problem-solving to ensure exceptional customer and patient care.
• Handle hospital communication duties, including on-call responsibilities during scheduled hours (cell phone) by location.
• Demonstrate effective telephone and verbal communication skills.
• Exercise professional judgment with clients, patients, and coworkers.
• Perform clerical functions (e.g., documenting call-ins) in the absence of a supervisor.
• Maintain confidentiality of personal and confidential information.
• Participate in on-call coverage to meet service levels and cover holidays, evenings, and weekends as required.
• Possess basic PC skills.

Minimum Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Preferred: PBT (ASCP) or equivalent certification; completion of a relevant Clinical Lab Assistant or comparable program.
• Immunization requirements:
  • Prove immunity to Hepatitis B, or be immunized, or sign a waiver refusing immunization.
  • Provide documentation of a PPD test conducted not more than 90 days prior to hire, or have a PPD test conducted through TriCore.
  • In departments/locations with direct patient contact: prove immunity or be eligible to receive rubella, rubeola, and varicella immunization.
• Valid driver’s license and good driving record; must be insurable by lab insurance carrier.
• Eligible to work in a health care facility as provided by the New Mexico Caregivers Criminal History Screening Act or other applicable law.

Minimum Experience

Candidates with no training or experience may be considered for an apprenticeship. Selected candidates are placed into CLA Level 1–4 based on the number of modalities completed regularly. Assigned modalities are determined by department leadership.

Modalities

• Check-in and Order Entry/Reconciliation (per system: Clinical, Anatomic, Research, Referral Testing)
  • Identify patient in system.
  • Reconcile electronic orders.
  • Manual entry when necessary.
  • Insurance/payment handling when necessary.
• General Phlebotomy (ages 10 and above): vacutainer, butterfly, and syringe collections.
• Special Collections and/or external shipping certification (arterial blood gas, pediatric and infant draws, sweat collection, breath collections, occupational health/drug screen collections, MRSA and COVID collections, therapeutic phlebotomies).
• Assisting provider-performed procedures (FNA, bone marrow, EBUS, bronchial lavage).
• Specimen Processing (receipt, sorting, delivery/loading, decanting, retrieval for send-out testing, surgical sample triage, storage and disposal).
• Non-conformity investigation/Problem Resolution (e.g., Problem Desk/Portal, TLC, NCE responses, client service) with proper documentation.
• Lab Equipment Maintenance and/or support (superuser), including chemical and biohazard waste management for non-testing instrumentation (cryostats and stain line).
• Sample Testing (waived to moderate), including instrument maintenance, biohazard disposal, QC, result review, and resolution of technical specimen problems.
• Training and competency assessments for modalities and students; may include N95 FIT testing.
• Department-specific skilled technical assistance:
  • BB-Product prep: irradiating units, thawing cryo and plasma, splitting plasma and platelets.
  • Infectious Disease: planting patient specimens (tissue and bone processing, grinding and cutting, plate inoculation, anaerobic vs. aerobic incubation).
  • Genetics and Cytometry: nucleic acid extraction, cell culture and harvesting, renal transplant kit oversight, patient testing scheduling and monitoring.
  • Histology and Cytology: cytology specimen processing, slide preparation and staining; histology specimen processing including bone marrow grossing and tissue-type processing knowledge.
• TRI Honest Broker department-specific clerical or support functions:
  • Organization of AP/HP cases and slide distribution.
  • FFPE block and slide filing and material retrieval.
  • Consult case management (ordering, material retrieval, billing, Client on the Fly, report upload).
  • Client material return.
  • Unit allocation and issue: cryo, plasma, platelet, bone, and tissue.
  • Skilled inventory management: ordering, receiving, monitoring par levels, end-of-month reconciliations (blood supply, reagents, supplies; TriBuy training and competency).