Talk:Blood donation

What's this? by a simple iron test. A phlebotomist pricks the donor's finger and elicits a small drop of blood. This blood is placed into a chemical solution — if the blood is dense enough to sink in the solution, there is sufficient iron in the blood to donate. I have never seen this or heard of it. Standard procedure is probably a hemoglobin quickcheck with a hemoglobin photometer. Kosebamse 19:45, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)

They did it to me. I can't say for sure if the person who pricked my finger was a phlebotomist (I have no idea what it means), or if they were really testing my iron levels, but it appears as though the finger-prick-sink-or-float is one standard way of doing it. I know for sure that different places bandage you differently after the donation, so they aren't absolutely uniform. Paullusmagnus 22:56, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Phlebotomist is a person who is licensed to draw blood. I should start a page on that. I know they do the donation process, but not sure if they do the iron test.

Not sure what a "hemoglobin quickcheck" and "hemoglobin photometer" are. The process described here is how it was done for me the three times I've donated blood (Western NY, and Massachusetts). It seems very likely to me that different methods are used in different regions of the world, or with different administering agencies. Unfortunately neither the Red Cross page nor Britain's National Blood Service give further details, only saying that "iron content will be checked," so we can't reference it well. Kosebamse, perhaps you can add information about the iron test you're more familiar with?

--zandperl 02:41, 12 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I just created "phlebotomist" and someone there mentioned the hematocrit test. I think this all needs clarification. See also discussion at Talk:Phlebotomist. --zandperl 03:13, 12 Apr 2004 (UTC)