Collect biological specimens from patients
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 21 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Handling and Moving Objects (4.A.3.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 21 occupations that perform it.
- Collect samples or specimens for diagnostic testing.
- Collect body tissue, feces, blood, urine, or other body fluids for examination and analysis.
- Obtain specimens or samples for laboratory work.
- Collect specimens for laboratory tests.
- Insert arterial catheters or perform arterial punctures to obtain arterial blood samples.
- Obtain specimens by performing procedures, such as biopsies or fine needle aspirations (FNAs) of superficial nodules.
- Perform venipuncture or skin pricking to collect blood samples.
- Collect and study blood samples to determine the number of cells, their morphology, or their blood group, blood type, or compatibility for transfusion purposes, using microscopic techniques.
- Harvest cell cultures using substances such as mitotic arrestants, cell releasing agents, and cell fixatives.
- Cut sections of body tissues for microscopic examination, using microtomes.
- Collect blood or tissue samples from patients, observing principles of asepsis to obtain blood sample.
- Collect, prepare, and label samples for laboratory testing, culture, or microscopic examination.
- Collect samples, such as blood, urine, or sputum from patients, and perform routine laboratory tests on samples.
- Collect specimens for use in laboratory tests.
- Collect specimens, such as urine, feces, or sputum.
- Perform nursing duties, such as administering medications, measuring vital signs, collecting specimens, or drawing blood samples.
- Collect blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, log the specimens, and prepare them for testing.
- Collect laboratory specimens, such as blood, urine, or feces, for testing.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
21 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Acute Care Nurses
- Anesthesiologist Assistants
- Critical Care Nurses
- Cytogenetic Technologists
- Endoscopy Technicians
- Histology Technicians
- Histotechnologists
- Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
- Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians
- Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists
- Medical Assistants
- Midwives
- Naturopathic Physicians
- Nurse Anesthetists
- Nursing Assistants
- Phlebotomists
- Physicians, Pathologists
- Psychiatric Aides
- Veterinarians
- Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
- Veterinary Technologists and Technicians
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Collect environmental or biological samples”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Collect environmental data or samples | 13 |
| Collect geographical or geological field data | 7 |
| Collect biological specimens | 6 |
| Collect geological samples | 3 |
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.