>    I think that we should ask someone at evergreen what their ratio is..or
>ask the hospital in Altanta with 12,000 + deliveries what their ratio
is...(
>Beadie are you listening? )
>
>    The 1 per 1,000 as I recall has been said for years but there is NO
data
>to substantiate this..
>
>    Patricia

This is the response from Beth Allen

<<The historical number that originally came from ILCA (informally) was 1 LC
to 1000 to 1500 births/year.  It is hard number to grossly estimate since
the number initiating and maintaining breastfeeding make a huge difference.
If this goal is a stretch for your institution, use it! If you need a
better bench mark, use Northside.  It is very hard to come up with a set
formula.  Factors that affect this statistic are:  your inpatient
postpartum length of stay, your initiation and duration rate, LC time that
can be dedicated to inpatient verses or in addition to outpatient, other
community or educational programs you offer related and supported by LCs
etc....  Just for your reference, Northside has @ 40 LCs that make up about
27 FTEs in lactation coverage.  We have 24 hour coverage 7 days a week,
with two five day a week outpatient locations.  We deliver @ 15,000 births
with a 87% initiation rate and 64% duration (at 6 months) rate.  Each
facility and geographic location has to be individualized.  The goal is to
see 100% of your breastfeeding patient population (inpatient) and be
available to see as many outpatients as needed, complementing the care with
the sale and rental of breastfeeding support devices.  You have to start
somewhere, so again, if the ILCA stat is helpful, use it.  Good luck.
Beth Allen, RN BSN IBCLC  Manager
Northside Lactation Center
Atlanta, GA>>

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