Miss Nikki, you KNOW I am clapping to see that you read carefully all the
practice-guiding documents! Whoo Hoo!

And you make my point: No where in them is the power to "diagnose"
mentioned.  But we can (indeed, it is a duty to) offer evidence-based
information and support, until we are blue in the face. to the family.  to
other healthcare providers (HCPs).

Jan, I will gently suggest that scopes of practice articulate affirmative
skills and powers.  They do not enumerate elements outside the scope of
practice. The IBLCE Scope of Practice for IBCLCs doesn't say we CAN'T
diagnose.  But it also doesn't say we CAN'T do brain surgery, chiropractic
adjustments, x-ray analysis and kidney transplants.

Pat, I think excellent IBCLCs do, in all practical terms, seemingly
"diagnose" some situations.

BUT.  Think about it this way.

If we are going allow "the excellence of our professionalism always precede
us," as I like to phrase it, we HAVE to use the language that corresponds
to the skill and authority we have been given.  "Diagnose" is a very hot
button word.  Folks who DO have diagnosing (and prescribing) powers get
super itchy-scratchy when they think folks who do NOT have those powers are
using them.

So I characterize it this way.  Got a hot button clinical sitauiton you are
seeing?  Think tongue-tie, or hormonal birth control.  Your charting, or
report to the primary HCP will say, "This looks like a duck.  It swims like
a duck.  It quacks like a duck.  It flies like a duck. Primary HCP, can you
tell us: Is this a duck? [or] Primary HCP, can you please rule out a duck
as a description of this thing?"

If you are using your extensive powers of observation and description about
what you SEE, including even your hints as to what it might BE, but you
leave the actual "labeling" to the folks whom we know *currently* to have
that role, then we are all practicing ethically, legally, and within our
current IBCLC Scope of Practice.

-- 
Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC, FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA
Secretary, U.S. Breastfeeding Cmte (2014-16)
Director, Human Milk Banking Assn of North America (2015-18)
Adjunct Professor, Drexel Univ, Public Policy of Breastfeeding (2016)
"IBCLCs empower women and save babies' lives!"-Ursuline Singleton

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome