About Liberty Career College
Liberty Career College in Bakersfield, Ca, offers 3 accredited programs: Phlebotomist, Pharmacy Technician, and Medical Assistant. All programs are properly accredited, and lead directly to taking the California State examination for the program you have taken. For those interested in phlebotomy training in Bakersfield Ca, Liberty Career College is 1 of only 2 programs in Kern County that is accredited by the State of California. Liberty Career College offers a very flexible schedule to meet the needs of their students. The length of time for the programs vary from the phlebotomy technician program(104 total hours), to the pharmacy technician program(260 total hours), to the medical assistant program(240 total hours). All hours include the necessary externship hours. There are weekday, weeknight, and weekend programs available.
Liberty Career College Phlebotomy Program
If you are interested in becoming a phlebotomist, your first step in the career path is to get the proper education. You will need to understand the job, the minimum requirements for certification, and what you will need to do to become a professional in this part of the medical field. Liberty Career College prepares students to become certified by the State of California as a phlebotomist.
What Is A Phlebotomist?
Of course, you do need to know just what is phlebotomy before you can pursue it as a career. According to one professional Bakersfield lab supervisor, “Phlebotomy training in Bakersfield Ca prepare people to draw blood from patients’ veins.” That is the main job of a phlebotomist. You will work with patients directly to draw their blood in different amounts and methods depending on the laboratory work needed. As a phlebotomist, you will need to know how to correctly puncture veins, how to label everything properly, and how to input information into the patient system. During the training, you will go through numerous classes that go above and beyond just drawing blood. You will learn about anatomy and physiology, the different systems in the body, emergency care, infectious disease control, and much more. You will need to take between one and two semesters’ worth of study.
Picking Phlebotomy Schools In Bakersfield Ca
There are two schools that offer phlebotomy training in Kern County, one of those being Liberty Career College in Bakersfield. You do need to be careful which you pick, whether it is a brick and mortar institution or phlebotomy certification online. The most important rule is whatever school you choose, it must be accredited. Of course, you need to find out what programs are recognized by your state, but there are numerous different entities that certify phlebotomists, including:
- American Society of Clinical Pathologists
- American Medical Technologists
- American Certification Agency for Healthcare Professionals
- National Healthcareer Association
- National Center for Competency Testing
- American Society of Phlebotomy
The School Work You Will Need
Depending on which state you live in and what certification program you pursue, you will need different amounts of coursework. However, the very minimum requirements will include:
- 40 credit hours of classwork
- 100 hours of clinicals (hands-on training)
- You may be required to complete more than this depending on your state, so it is extremely important to check with your state before enrolling in a class. If you choose to take phlebotomy classes online, then you still need to ensure you pick an accredited and certified program.
The Exams to Take
Finally, after you have completed your Liberty Career College phlebotomy schoolwork, you will need to take at least one exam. Depending on your state, you may need to take two more certification exams. Because it is so extremely important to pass the tests, you do need to choose a phlebotomy certification practice test. This will help you prepare for the exam, and you can find the practice material right online so that you don’t have to pay any more money or go to a school just to prepare for your exams. When you wish to become a phlebotomist, then you will need to choose from schools that offer phlebotomy training. There are numerous different options, including both online and offline classes. Just make sure you pick a school that is accredited so that you will be able to get your state license. Always ensure the school and program you choose will meet all of the minimum requirements of your state as well. Once you complete schoolwork, hands-on clinicals, and the exams, you will be employable as a professional phlebotomist. You will be able to find a job in numerous different facilities, like medical clinics, hospitals, emergency rooms, and doctors’ offices. In California, there are many different types of training to get licensed as a phlebotomist. Those types are: tech schools, vocational programs, and Community Colleges. In Kern County specifically, there are only 2 programs licensed by the State of California: the Liberty Career College phlebotomy program, and the phlebotomy training program at Clinical Training Institute in Bakersfield Ca.
Liberty Career College Medical Assistant Program
Liberty Career College in Bakersfield Ca offers flexible scheduling for their Medical Assistant program, including weekday, weeknight, and weekend classes. Popularly known as the medical administrative assistants, the certified medical assistants are multi-skilled persons who can prove to be extremely valuable asset to the physicians and surgeons. Being an integral part of the healthcare team, these medical assistants duties include assisting the physicians in managing patient care effectively. These medical assistant students trained at Liberty Career College are needed to perform a number of functions including updating of the task and filing the medical records of the patients. A large number of physicians and surgeons rely heavily on these medical assistants for getting the right information about different patients. Due to the fact that a lot of physicians depend on these medical assistants, they need to possess skills to deliver appropriate data as and when needed. The job duties that are associated with medical assistants include the following:
- They need to consult the patients for getting accurate medical information besides the vital signs of the patients including their height and weight.
- Medical assistants need to show the patients the investigation rooms besides also needing to prepare the patients for their meeting with the physician.
- They record the patient’s history and the test results.
- They need to organize and manage the medications the way they have been directed by the physicians.
- These medical assistants take blood and all other laboratory samples required for various tests that a patient may need to undergo. They also record the lab specimens and arrange them for further testing.
- It is the duty of the medical assistants to provide details of various treatment procedures, prescriptions, prescribed food diet and the instructions given by the physicians to patients.
- These medical assistants also need to help the physicians to inspect and give necessary treatment to the patients, hand over tools and gadgets needed to perform the treatment. These may include different injections and the removal of sutures.
- They need to approve medicine refills and also need to provide prescription to the pharmacies.
- These medical assistants need to prepare treatment rooms for the examination and treatment of different patients and also need to keep these rooms clean, so that the next patient will not risk cross-contamination.
- The medical assistants must clean and disinfect these tools and dispose contaminated supplies.
- Graduates of the Medical Assistant program at Liberty Career College in Bakersfield will be trained to be responsible for scheduling the appointments for the patients.
- They need to change bandages on the wounds of the patients at regular intervals or as and when needed.
- They are also treated as the face of the organization. Therefore, they are often expected to greet and log in the patients when they arrive at the physician’s Bakersfield clinic.
- One major duty that these medical assistants need to perform is to communicate with medical facilities and various departments for scheduling the tests for different patients and admissions.
- These medical assistants are also expected to take care of routine office activities like attending phone calls, taking notes and filling up insurance forms.
- One most important task that needs to be taken care of by these medical assistants is to maintain the stocks and place new orders for the medical, lab, office and equipment supplies for the center.
- They also need to take care of regular tests and analysis of various samples.
Liberty Career College Pharmacy Tech Program
Pharmacy tech classes that you take by attending board exam preparation courses have the advantage of being short in length, low in cost and some also offer additional learning tools besides the course curriculum. There are mainly two ways to attend classes in this setting;
- I. Traditional classroom setting
- II.Distance learning
Liberty Career College Pharmacy tech program students in a traditional classroom setting for a board exam course would be the same as what a community or technical college may offer, i.e. a classroom and an instructor.
Most pharmacy tech classes for board exam courses are from 8 -12 weeks in length and classes may be 1 day per week for a few hours.Also, some classes may be entirely online and self paced and therefore offered at a lower price and in my opinion present the best value. BUT, you need to shop around and see who offers the BEST value. Classes may also be taken via distance learning from your home computer. In this environment you have more flexibility and coursework may be scheduled around your timings not to mention the convenience it offers. Some programs may give you the flexibility to finish the course at your own pace; others may not. On the other hand there are online courses that are similar to a classroom setting and which have deadlines. These courses have deadlines that you have to meet and complete the coursework in the designated time period.
Working as a Pharmacy Tech In Bakersfield Ca
You might be wondering what types of pharmacy tech careers are out there in Bakersfield, once you’ve completed an accredited pharmacy tech program like the one at Liberty Career College. Pharmacy is a diverse field and there are many pharmacy tech careers to choose from. The most common ones include retail, hospital, mail order, home health care, mail order, long term care and teaching. Keep in mind there are other pharmacy tech careers as well besides the ones listed here but these are the most common settings. The settings are below and expand on them a little bit.
Note: these are general descriptions of work environments, specific duties are determined by each individual company.
Retail
In case you’re new to pharmacy, this site will briefly describe what it means when someone says “I work in a retail pharmacy”. Retail pharmacy is the same as a retail store that caters to customers and has a physical location where customers come in for their pharmacy needs. Examples include your corner drugstore, a supermarket drug store or a mom and pop drugstore down the street.
So, you might be wondering what pharmacy techs do in a retail setting?
Pharmacy tech job descriptions may vary depending on the company you work for, but some of the most common duties are answering telephone calls, calling customers regarding their medications to remind them of refills, managing the front end of the pharmacy, assisting the pharmacist in filling prescriptions and compounding medications if needed, inventory control, placing drug orders and performing other duties as delegated by the Pharmacist. This setting is the easiest to get a job in.
Hospital
Hospital pharmacy is very different than retail if it is inpatient, in this setting you are in a closed environment which means you are not directly dealing with patients as you would in retail. Note: there are also outpatient hospital pharmacies which are similar to retail except that they’re located within a hospital. Inpatient pharmacy tech duties may vary by hospital and may include inventory control, unit dose preparation (drug packaged as a single dose), pyxis machine refills (a machine on nursing floors that is loaded with medications by pharmacy techs so that nurses can have immediate access to medications without having to wait for pharmacy to send it up to the floor), filling prescription orders, answering calls from nurses and doctor’s, returning calls, generating reports, compounding medications as needed and delivering medications as needed to the nursing floors. In a hospital setting there may be as few as 2 or as many as 15 techs working at a time depending on the size of the hospital and each tech will have assigned duties on a rotating basis.
Mail order
Mail order pharmacy is also a closed environment setting, in this setting you would be responsible for packaging drugs in bulk so they can be shipped via mail to the patient, usually for 3 months’ supply at a time for each medication they’re on. Again, duties may vary by company.
Home health
Home health is also a closed environment setting, here you are packaging enough medication for the patient to last about a week, medications are shipped to the patient to their home where a nurse or caregiver administers it to them if they are unable or unwilling to do it themselves. The difference is that unlike mail order you are also sending the patient the medical supplies (e.g. alcohol swabs, gauze, cotton buds, syringes etc.) they would need in addition to their medications.
Long term care (LTC)
Similar to mail order except that medications may be sent to patients to last anywhere from a week to a month depending on the type of medication it is.
Compounding
Compounding pharmacies specialize in making custom medications that are not available commercially and are made to order based on a doctor’s prescription. These pharmacies specialize in compounding medications for certain diseases and/or conditions e.g. menopause medications.
Teaching
This setting is for those that love to teach and pass on their knowledge and experience. Positions may be available with schools or exam preparation programs that specialize in pharmacy tech training, or it could be with the company you work for where you could be training new employees in pharmacy operations or the pharmacy computer system.