Hi all,

confusion reigns supreme re titles!  The term lactation consultant is an
unprotected (legally) term which in essence, means anyone can use it.
 Including the RN at the hospital that has been to a half day workshop who
administration has told, "you like bf, you be our lc"  Yep, it happens, sadly
enough.

All other certifications, with the exception of IBCLC are program completion
certifications - you have attended our program, completed our requirements,
and you are certified.  The difficulty with that is that no one knows what
program certified you, or what qualifications the program has to certify you.
 And there are a lot of programs out there that confer certification of one
sort or another.  But it isn't certification according to NOCA (National
Organization of Certifying Agency) standards which are very strict.  IBLCE
belongs to NOCA - in fact, I believe JoAnn Scott recently accepted a position
on their Board of Directors - or something fancy like that.  In any case,
IBLCE adheres strictly to NOCA standards for certification which includes the
criterion referenced (has to do with the way the exam is scored by a
psychometrician) exam, the specific criteria which must be met before taking
the exam, the recertification criteria, and the awarding of CERPS to programs
offering such.  There are also disciplinary measures which can be taken if an
IBCLC is in flagrant violation of Standards of practice or ethics, and the
IBCLC can be stripped of her certification by the IBLCE (not ILCA).  in 1993
stated that "ILCA acknowledges the IBLCE examination as the professional
credential for lactation consultants."  At that point, some of the programs
which had been confering certification on their grads (BSC was one of them)
stopped doing so, and although they had always encouraged people to take the
exam, encouraged it even more strongly.  It is sort of like going to nursing
school.  All of us who are RNs went to school someplace - it may have been a
3 year hospital diploma school, it may have been a 4 year BSN program or a 2
year AD program.  But the great leveler for us all were the board exams which
made all of us RNs.  Doesn't matter now which school we went to or how we got
our education; what matters is that we qualified by passing the boards.  Same
with LCs.  It doesn't matter which "school" we go to, the great leveler that
tells us that we are qualified is that we passed the boards.  Now, before
some of you rise up and call me less than blessed, let me point out there are
"schools" and "schools" and "courses" and "courses".  Some are more complete
than others - some are better than others - some will prepare you better for
the exam than others - and some will prepare you better to practice as an LC
than others.  It isn't that it doesn't matter which course you take, it is
how well you are prepared to function in the field.  Even the IBLCE can't
weed out all the practitioners that are no good - and there are some.  There
are poor physicians and poor nurses too.  School and passing the boards
didn't weed them out.  So, don't blame the IBLCE if you know of a truly lousy
LC somewhere - it isn't the fault of the exam - no exam is perfect.  But it
behooves us to encourage those who aren't board certified to become that so
we can have some uniformity in the profession.  The suggestion that someone
made re sending letters to the hospital administration suggesting they have
board certified help on hand rather than the home-grown "boob fairy" is a
very good one.

My fear for a number of years is that hospital based LCs are going to go the
way of the childbirth educator.  They will be hospital appointed and hospital
trained, and not truly committed to the ideals of bf and the WHO Code.  When
was the last time you went to a hospital based birth prep class that was
truly a "lamaze" class - that was preparing the parents for alternatives in
childbirth and how to NOT take medication or an epidural?  They are far and
few between, and most people that teach them are in private practice - and
many docs won't refer to them because the parents that come out of them are
empowered to question what is happening and what is going on....

Oops - I feel a soapbox coming......

I'll jump down quickly....

To all you LCs in training - we're glad you are aboard, and wish you all the
best as you continue to be in training before you take your board exams.  And
what a wonderful learning opportunity here on lactnet!

Once again, thanks to the lactation midwives that birthed "us."

See you in Scottsdale!

Jan B.