Phlebotomy Remains Highest Among Laboratory Turnover Rates

Among all laboratory departments, turnover rates among phlebotomists continues to be the highest of all laboratory positions.

According to a recent College of American Pathologists (CAP) Q-Probes Study published in the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, researchers asked participants to submit laboratory staff full-time equivalent (FTE) data for 2015, 2016, and 2017 according to personnel categories. The median of the 3-year average turnover rate for all laboratory staff was 16.2 percent, Ancillary staff had the lowest median turnover rate (11.1%) while phlebotomist staff had the highest at 24.9 percent. Twenty institutions submitted phlebotomy FTE numbers. 

For as long as Phlebotomy Today has been reporting survey results measuring laboratory turnover (22 years), phlebotomy departments have always experienced the highest rates. It has never been higher than it is now, according to the Center for Phlebotomy Education's director, Dennis J. Ernst Mt(ASCP), NCPT(NCCT). 
     "We've been tracking turnover rates for phlebotomy departments for the last twenty years or so, and it's never reached the heights we're seeing today," says Ernst. "Just seven years ago, ASCP reported an 8 percent rate for phlebotomists. It's tripled since then."

Ernst cites low morale, poor management, violence toward healthcare workers, and the increased risks among specimen collection staff, especially those exposed to Covid-19 patients and collecting samples from symptomatic patients. "I think it's finally time to reevaluate what we pay phlebotomists and provide some incentives that will retain them and bring down this unsustainable turnover rate."

Read the full CAP Q-Probe article.