If you want to set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd you need to become very good at what everyone else does bad. If you can do that you increase your value to your employer by tenfold. I am talking about drawing blood from children. Nobody wants to do it. When a mother comes in to your lab with an unhappy child in tow it’s almost like she’s bringing in a leper. Everybody tries to inconspicuously put as much distance as possible between themselves and the child. If your lab doesn’t already have a go-to-guy to deal with children and/or babies, maybe you could be that person.

Debaneatha is a phlebotomist who works at Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's Healthcare (JHSMH) in Louisville, Kentucky. To help explain the basic responsibilities involved with a career in phlebotomy, JHSMH interviewed Debaneatha about her life as a phlebotomist.