Who Was the First Phlebotomist in History?

It is said that the Ancient Egyptians were the first to practice bloodletting, as phlebotomy could also be described as such. The practice persisted until the 19th century, outlasting the biggest empires of the world. Back then, however, healthcare education was a lot more primitive and the goal of bloodletting was significantly different from modern phlebotomy.

Specifically, ancient people believed that bloodletting will cure them of disease by getting rid of the infected blood. Of course, any modern phlebotomy school in Illinois will tell you that healing doesn’t work that way. Removing blood in great quantities from the body can actually trigger a lot of complications; in other words, they can do more harm than good.

With improvements in science, however, came improvements in the practice as well. Phlebotomy is no longer the practice of draining copious amounts of blood from the body. Rather, it is now the act of removing a miniscule amount of blood that is then used to diagnose a patient’s disease so he or she can be cured.

Phlebotomy is a discipline belonging to the practice of medical technology in modern times. If you want to learn more about the science or how you can become a phlebotomist, visit us at Career Options, Inc. We are also a CNA school in Park Ridge, Illinois.