Pathology is the process of how diseases are confirmed and diagnosed and can also be used to see if a patient’s disease is getting better with treatment.

It might range from using samples to measure chemical levels like hormones and medications in people’s bodies to looking for bad guys like bacteria and viruses.

People who do the specimen collecting for pathology samples are known as specimen collection officers or phlebotomists (you say that word starting with “fl”). They work in pathology collection centres which might be in the public health system or privately owned. The samples collected will be processed in a medical laboratory to confirm and diagnose disease, and sometimes check how someone’s treatment is going.

The pathway below shows how you could work in pathology collection. There is also a VET pathway for pathology assistance if you would like to work in a pathology laboratory. There are options for further study at university if you’d like to work in a pathology laboratory. Everyone has their own journey. Where you start and where you end is up to you!