Margery Wilson said:
"I think back to the "Evaluation of the Breast" seminar presented at the 1995
ILCA conference. It was standing room only and even then most of us wanted
more. (It was too big a group and too short to be truly effective.) Such
offerings could be made in addition to the present program, but should
involve a full day (at least) of hands-on, evaluated instruction. This would
mean limited class size. Eventually we could get to a point where a certain
number of clinical skills (evaluated by instructors) would be required for
certification. Yes????? "

In my opinion, the local conferences, seminars, etc. do not always go into
depth as to the clinical aspects and what Margery has suggested would be a
great idea.  Have experts evaluate and sign-off on a future IBCLC's skills.
A number of skills need to be involved (breast and nipple evaluations, suck
evaluation, suck training, alternative feeding methods, etc,) With a college
degree, you now need only a limited number of hours and cerps and the cerps
can be the very basics of breastfeeding to count.  A credentialed IBCLC
needs MORE than the basics!  The exam is difficult enough, but the cut off
for pass/fail should be higher.  Licensing would be further benefit, but HOW
and WHO??

Pam Wiggins, IBCLC, Franklin VA.

PS    For a free Lactnet button send SASE to Pam Wiggins, 30149 Smiths Ferry
Rd., Franklin Va. 23851  Better put 43 cents stamp on it, one person had to
pay 11 cents postage due, although my electronic scale says exactly one ounce!