I saw an item on a US network tv news show last night about the risk to
consumers in health clubs who use "certified" personal trainers.  Some
consumers have been injured in workouts designed by trainors whose
certification was purchased on-line, or who trained only minimally.  Other
personal trainers have extensive preparation, college degrees in sports
physiology or kinesiology, etc.  They, too, are certified, and are rightly
concerned about the bad name poorly trained practitioners give their
profession.  The problem is that the health club employers and consumers
have no way of knowing whether these various certifications are worth
anything in terms of guaranteeing a competant personal trainer. The narrator
made the point that without standardization and the emergence of one
preeminant certification process, the possession of a certification was only
minimally useful to consumers.  I think that this issue has real resonance
to our field, and I thought about it as  I read today's post about a hospt.
looking to hire someone with the specification that the person would become
"certified".  The poster seemed to be suggesting some kind of a
certification that would result from a short training course.

One reason why all of us ought to stand behind the IBCLC certification is
that it, alone of all the other certifications awarded, maintains minimum
competancy standards and provides on-going disciplinary and ethical
oversight.  The IBLCE conducts hearings based on consumer or fellow-IBCLC
complaints. If an IBCLC is found to have violated ethical or practice
guidelines, her certification can be revoked.  This recourse to bad practice
protects consumers. While I support the work of peer counselors and other
lactation counselors, their practice should be supervised by a licensed
health care professional or an IBCLC.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

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