I've given a lot of consideration to what prescribing means. In the most legal sense of the term, it refers to writing a script for a substance that can only be legally acquired with this script. In a much looser sense, the term is commonly used to refer to the recommendation of anything for any kind of a condition. If I were to tell a stressed-out friend that she needs a girl's day out, it could be said that I "prescribed" play time for my friend even though we are not in a professional relationship status. Thus, you will find multiple definitions of prescribing which are inclusive of both the legal meaning and common vernacular use. In the lactation profession, this is, of course, a sticky wicket, and I think that our dialogue is extremely important. I recently had a *physician* ask me what medication I would prescribe in a particular situation. I was a little taken aback (is this a trick question?) and told her that I'm not a doctor so I can't prescribe... and she said "of course, but what would you recommend...." So I told her my thoughts on what might be appropriate according to my knowledge and experience. What this little conversation was all about was her feeling like she didn't know as much as I did about this situation and so asking me for my professional input. I sure love relationships that involve mutual respect of our individual experience and knowledge base! I read a really interesting tongue-tie article today (Wallace 2006). The final sentence said, "Ideally, in the future, lactation consultants will be suitably trained and qualified to perform the simple procedure (frenotomy), *thus reducing delay and hopefully increasing the numbers of infants successfully breastfeeding with all the advantages this brings."* And do you know that in Lisa Amir's hospital in Australia, they actually do train and certify their LCs to clip tongue-ties? We are a young profession struggling to figure out how we can be most effective. One thing I'm learning is that the health care providers I interact with on a daily basis simply don't always have the time and/or interest to keep up on the things that are so important to the care of our breastfeeding mothers. This is our area of expertise. It is my hope that we develop our profession with an eye to the future. How feasible is it to adequately train all those around us, in every locale, who we hope will help our mother or baby? Or might it be better if we instead turn our attention to acquiring these skills ourselves instead of waiting and hoping? On the plate are things like CST, herbs, homeopathy, suck assessment/training, even tongue-tie clipping (though in the US, pretty difficult!). I hope that we fight for a professional model that, in the end, serves to "reduce delay and hopefully increase the numbers of infants successfully breastfeeding..." as so eloquently stated above. I hope that we aim high, and not low, and that we set up training and competencies for these skills and knowledge. ~Lisa *********************************************** 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