Hi Tricia, This isn't new, except that the offer is now for online education, rather than face-to-face. Offers of breastfeeding educatin by the manufacturers is a long-standing ploy (including reps selecting a soft target to approach with the offer). Besides providing questionable content, these situationa give them access to staff and also names and contact details for further contact. As the education offer was "free", that creates gratitude and trust, leading to cosy feelings about the "nice" providers (who are paid to present as "nice" and understanding). Gratitude skews people's judgment. Always keep in mind - these people need a relationship with health staff more than you need them. Just say no is the best rule. Virginia in Brisbane, QLD, Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tricia Shamblin" <> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, November 03, 2013 4:39 PM Subject: formula companies offering breastfeed education to RNs Hi all, Here's something I have to ask everyone's opinion on, have you ever heard of this before - my manager met with the similac rep, and she offered to give us "free" online learning modules so that we could become Baby Friendly. I was floored! I think I had a hard time disguising the look of horror on my face when my boss brought it up to me. The rep assured her that lots of hospitals use it to teach their RN's about breastfeeding and become Baby Friendly. Really? I doubt that. I think she met with my boss instead of me because earlier in the week she emailed me and asked me if I would like any of her materials about breastfeeding. LOL. I looked at one of them and of course it was awful, so I sent her a long email detailing all of the problems in her handouts. Funny, but I never heard back from her again... I started the email with, "Look, I'm sure your a nice person, but...." So I guess she decided to meet with my boss instead of me, and offered her "free" online education for the nurses. I'm trying to get management to understand the concept that you get what you pay for, and we don't want to let businesses market to our patients, but it's hard for management to grasp this concept, especially in this economy. I think we shouldn't let any companies market to our OB patients, not just formula companies. Anyone have good ideas for talking to management about this. We just banned the bags last year, and I've gotten rid everything with formula logos on it. As we are going through staff training I'm going to explain to them why we can't take free things from formula reps anymore. But what about freebies from diaper companies, or baby shampoo, what does everyone think about that? I've taken everything out of the patient education folders that has a company logo on it. But I'm debating about diaper and baby shampoo samples in the gift bags, I'd love to hear what other hospitals do. *********************************************** *********************************************** 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