The Phlebotomy program at South Arkansas Community College is only one semester in length and students successful in the 7-credit hour course will graduate with a Certificate of Proficiency (CP) from the college. The program course includes classroom (theory, medical information, and phlebotomy procedures) laboratory (practical skills), and practicum (in healthcare settings) components.

The Phlebotomy program centers on the study of phlebotomy, professionalism, patient relations, basic medical terminology, types of specimens, specimen collection procedures, complications of venipuncture, adaptations for special limits and special types of patients, and the actual collection of laboratory specimens.

Upon successful completion of all coursework, the student may apply to sit for one or more national certification examinations in phlebotomy. We use NHA (National Healthcareer Association) for the CPT exam (Certified Phlebotomy Technician).

Phlebotomy certification is NOT required by the State of Arkansas, but, may be required by individual health care facilities for employment. Each class is limited to a maximum of 14 students. The first 14 students who complete the admission process to South Arkansas Community College will be allowed to register for the course and pay tuition and fees. Positions in the class cannot be held for specific individuals until admission requirements are met. If students fail to pay tuition and fees on time, those students will be dropped from the course and additional students will be allowed to register for the vacated positions in the class.

Program Completion and Graduation Requirements for the Certificate of Proficiency in Phlebotomy
To complete program and graduation requirements, the student MUST:
1. Successfully pass by earning a “C” in the phlebotomy course/program
2. Successfully pass a skills competency check-off prior to beginning the practicum component
3. Successfully complete a minimum of 100 successful unaided blood collections and clinical hours (between 95 hours [minimum] and 125 hours [additional hours will be required if the minimum 100 successful unaided blood collections are not completed within 125 hours]) in assigned health care facilities
4. Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00 or higher

Phlebotomy Practicum:  Practicum location and clinical setting assignments vary and rotate for each student. The Program Director/Instructor will assign practicum location and hours and will attempt to schedule each student in an area near their residence location but this isn’t always possible so students should be prepared to travel within the region for practicum assignments.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Clinical facilities have specific requirements of students to be allowed to perform the clinical/practicum component at their health care facilities, including, but not limited to:

• Must pass a criminal background check
• Must pass a drug screen
• Must provide proof of various vaccinations, immunizations, and/or testing/screening, which may include, but is not limited to:

• Tuberculosis screening/testing
• Hepatitis B immunization or signed Declination Statement
• Immunity to varicella. Proof may consist of 1) proof of vaccination, 2) statement of physician verifying that student had varicella, or 3) varicella antibody titer indicating immunity
• Current Influenza vaccine
• Covid-19 vaccination
• See Disclosure Statement below for more details. Students must read the Disclosure Statement on vaccinations, immunizations, and testing/screening (see next section) and sign a letter of understanding, which will be provided by the program director/instructor.

Students who do not meet these requirements and abide by their assigned clinical facility rules, regulations, policies, procedures, etc., will not be able to remain in the program, due to lack of ability to successfully complete the clinical/practicum component.

Service work by students:  Students performing the required practicum experiences in health care facilities may not count hours working as an employee at a facility, may not be paid by the facility for practicum hours performed, and may not be considered as staff replacement by the assigned health care facility. At NO time is it the responsibility of the student to “work” in an official capacity during practicum hours. Students should always be under professional supervision. This includes health fairs, wellness clinics, blood drives, etc. Any service work outside of the clinical setting is not expected nor a requirement of this program and is completely voluntary.

The South Arkansas Community College Phlebotomy program is approved by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.

Disclosure Statement for Vaccinations, Immunizations, and/or Testing/Screening Required by Clinical, Practicum, Fieldwork and/or Internship/Externship Sites

Students currently in, entering into, or applying for entry into any health science program at South Arkansas Community College must understand that:

1. Successful completion of the clinical, practicum, fieldwork, and/or internship/externship program component is a requirement for graduation from these programs;
2. Clinical, practicum, fieldwork, and/or internship/externship sites require students to have received certain vaccinations, immunizations, possibly including the Covid-19 vaccination, and to have successfully passed testing/screenings such as a drug screen and a criminal background check, in order to be allowed to attend clinical, etc., in their facility.
   • Some facilities do not allow students to attend clinical, etc., in their facility until after the student has fully completed the Covid-19 vaccination doses recommended by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
3. Therefore, if the student has not received or completed the vaccinations and immunizations, including a complete Covid-19 vaccination (if applicable), and successfully passed testing/screenings that are required by the clinical, practicum, fieldwork, and/or internship/externship site(s) and has not yet successfully completed these required program components, the student will not graduate from the program.
4. Successful graduation from the applicable health science program is required in order to sit for the profession’s licensure, certification, registration, etc., examination.
5. The program graduate will not be able to work in the applicable health science profession if he/she is not licensed, certified, registered, etc., in the profession.