Career Overlap Transition record Edition 1 · ESCO v1.2.1
Table 1Transition record

medical laboratory assistanttophlebotomist

A medical laboratory assistant already meets 30% of what the phlebotomist role asks for. The move turns on 19 required skills not yet in the profile.

From medical laboratory assistant
30%
Overlap1
To phlebotomist
14 Skills carried over
19 Required, not held
72 Difficulty2
Career overlap Distant match

30%

Learning distance Substantial retraining

72/ 100

1 Share of the phlebotomist role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the medical laboratory assistant profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.

Why

Why this move works

A phlebotomist role treats 6 of its required skills as things a medical laboratory assistant already does. These are the ones it depends on most.

  • blood donation
  • collect biological samples from patients
  • communicate in healthcare
  • label blood samples
  • techniques of blood-sampling
  • transport blood samples

What stands in the way is 19 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 14 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A phlebotomist role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a medical laboratory assistant background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held blood donation health and welfare
  • already held label blood samples handling and moving
  • already held transport blood samples handling and moving
  • already held blood collection on babies health and welfare
  • already held blood type classification health and welfare
  • already held blood transfusion health and welfare

All 14 carried skills, including the 6 the phlebotomist role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you would need to learn

The 23 missing skills fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.

Skill to acquire Tier
01 assisting and caring 6 required, 1 supplementary
  • required, not held ensure safety of healthcare users required
  • required, not held perform venepuncture procedures required
  • required, not held respond to healthcare users' extreme emotions required
  • required, not held comply with legislation related to health care required
  • required, not held empathise with the healthcare user required
  • required, not held manage infection control in the facility required
  • optional, not held assist patients with special needs optional
02 health and welfare 5 required, 2 supplementary
  • required, not held human anatomy required
  • required, not held human physiology required
  • required, not held infection control required
  • required, not held medical informatics required
  • required, not held sterilization techniques required
  • optional, not held blood product storage conditions optional
  • optional, not held medical terminology optional
03 communication, collaboration and creativity 2 required, 1 supplementary
  • required, not held work in multidisciplinary health teams required
  • required, not held interact with healthcare users required
  • optional, not held use foreign languages in patient care optional
04 information skills 2 required
  • required, not held monitor basic patients signs required
  • required, not held maintain professional records required
05 working with machinery and specialised equipment 2 required
  • required, not held use venepuncture procedure equipment required
  • required, not held use technical equipment for sterilisation required
06 handling and moving 1 required
  • required, not held label medical laboratory samples required

1 further area in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a phlebotomist role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 14 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held blood donation knowledge
  • already held collect biological samples from patients skill
  • already held communicate in healthcare skill
  • already held label blood samples skill
  • already held techniques of blood-sampling knowledge
  • already held transport blood samples skill
  • already held blood collection on babies knowledge
  • already held blood transfusion knowledge
  • already held blood type classification knowledge
  • already held conduct cancer screening tests skill
  • already held conduct routine blood testing skill
  • already held explain the molecular basis of a disease to patients skill
  • already held paediatric phlebotomy procedures knowledge
  • already held perform reconstructive microsurgery skill
The 1 learning area not shown above
Skill to acquire Tier
07 services 1 required
  • required, not held hygiene in a health care setting required
4 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to acquire Tier
  • optional, not held blood product storage conditions optional
  • optional, not held assist patients with special needs optional
  • optional, not held medical terminology optional
  • optional, not held use foreign languages in patient care optional
58 held skills the phlebotomist role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role analyse blood samples skill
  • not needed by the target role analyse cell cultures skill
  • not needed by the target role apply safety procedures in laboratory skill
  • not needed by the target role archive healthcare users' records skill
  • not needed by the target role assist in the production of laboratory documentation skill
  • not needed by the target role automated analysers in the medical laboratory knowledge
  • not needed by the target role biological chemistry knowledge
  • not needed by the target role calibrate laboratory equipment skill
  • not needed by the target role carry out flow cytometry skill
  • not needed by the target role carry out quality control in microbiology laboratories skill
  • not needed by the target role check the received biological samples skill
  • not needed by the target role clinical biochemistry knowledge
  • not needed by the target role clinical cytology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role cryopreservation knowledge
  • not needed by the target role data protection knowledge
  • not needed by the target role densiometry knowledge
  • not needed by the target role dermapathology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role dispose medical waste skill
  • not needed by the target role electroencephalography knowledge
  • not needed by the target role examine cell specimens microscopically skill
  • not needed by the target role examine samples in dermatology skill
  • not needed by the target role fine-needle aspiration knowledge
  • not needed by the target role histopathology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role identify patients' medical records skill
  • not needed by the target role immunology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role interpret hematological test results skill
  • not needed by the target role interpret medical results skill
  • not needed by the target role interpret urology diagnostic tests skill
  • not needed by the target role laboratory techniques knowledge
  • not needed by the target role maintain healthcare user data confidentiality skill
  • not needed by the target role maintain laboratory equipment skill
  • not needed by the target role maintain medical laboratory equipment skill
  • not needed by the target role microbiology-bacteriology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role microscopic techniques knowledge
  • not needed by the target role mix chemicals skill
  • not needed by the target role monitor stock level skill
  • not needed by the target role operate scientific measuring equipment skill
  • not needed by the target role order supplies skill
  • not needed by the target role perform PCR covid test skill
  • not needed by the target role perform bone marrow transplant skill

18 further entries not listed here

8 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to acquire Tier
  • required, not held human anatomy required
  • required, not held human physiology required
  • required, not held hygiene in a health care setting required
  • required, not held infection control required
  • required, not held medical informatics required
  • required, not held sterilization techniques required
  • optional, not held blood product storage conditions optional
  • optional, not held medical terminology optional
Index

Other moves recorded from medical laboratory assistant

Full index of moves from medical laboratory assistant

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.