Hello,

 

I'm a long time lurker coming out of "lurkdom" to pass on what might be
helpful info to you hospital based lc's in the USA.  Our hospital had a
Joint Commission survey last week.  Our surveyor was extremely
interested in the breastfeeding support given to our patients.  He (yes,
he) wanted to meet with me in my office!  My guess is that he was
looking to see if we were hiding things there and/or wanted to see how
patient information contained there was protected.  

I'll list his questions as much as I can remember:

*   Do I see all the mothers?

*   If a mom can't afford to rent a breast pump, what happens? (Ours is
an inner city hospital with a large level 3 nicu.)

*   Do I see moms after discharge?

*   What happens when I'm not there?  (I'm the lone lc here.)

*   Did I think the nurses were all competent to assist mothers with
breastfeeding and how did I know?

*   Was competency documented in the nurses' personnel files?

*   Did I think that one had to have breastfed in order to successfully
assist a breastfeeding mom?

*   He wanted to see a breast pump.  (They were all being used, which
seemed ok to him.)

*   What resourced did we provide moms once they were discharged?

*   Did moms call me after discharge?

*   Did I have the 10 yr certification?

 

Competency was a huge issue.  So much so that he asked to see my
personnel file and that of one of the staff nurses on the Mother/Baby
unit.  He looked at my signature to verify that I had signed the nurse's
competency record!  He did not ask any questions about how we stored
milk or cleaned pumps - things we were ready for.

I have been around for many JCAHO surveys and they have never been
interested in breastfeeding before.  Maybe a passing question here and
there.  I hope this is a sign that they are realizing the importance of
breastfeeding and support for breastfeeding and will make lc's on staff
a requirement for certification of hospitals.

To any of you who are looking ahead to their visit - good luck!

 

 

Angie Daniels, RN, BSN, IBCLC, LCCE

Newark Beth Israel Medical Center

Newark, NJ 

 



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