Hi All - I'm posting this personally, not on behalf of anyone or any organization.
Mentored or supervised clinical experience has been a dream/goal of many of us for a long time. My state debated the credential issue for years as it pertained to public health clinic personnel policies ("who is qualified to be the breastfeeding coordinator, and why?" took three years of heated meetings to resolve.). ILCA's Education committee has wrestled with this idea off-and-on for several years, since at least 1990. The tricky (and sticky) question to answer is "Who is qualified to be the mentor/preceptor?" Objective standards in this field are hard enough to establish - an example is the current debate over IBCLC certification for voting privileges in ILCA. Now, let's take it one step further and say we agree that IBCLC is a minimum qualification of a mentor/supervisor in Lactation Management (OK, just humor me on this one if you disagree.) Can any IBCLC then serve as mentor? I bet we can all name an IBCLC who has no business being a trainer/supervisor. Years of experience? Maybe - but what kinds of experience and how many years? IBCLC plus five years? Three years? ten years? What kind of setting should be the site(s) for clinical experiences - only hospitals certified as Baby Friendly? What about outpatient or home health settings? And so on. All criteria established must be legally defensible, and that means formal published studies on all the details. And then - who pays for this extra time needed to properly train a student? How much is enough experience, and how was that decision reached? Tough questions.
Most of the regulated professions (medicine, law, education, religion, counseling etc) have a "student" or apprentice status built into the formal training. Other professions with alternative pathways have a long apprenticeship as a requirement, with extensive rules governing the apprentice and the supervisor(s). This formalizing of the pre-service (entry-level) educational process for new lactation consultants has been an ongoing project of ILCA's since 1992 with strong plans for moving ahead in 1997.
I didn't get any choice in my pathway to becoming a gym teacher - I had to get a 4-year degree from an accredited college. Period. No matter how much I liked sports, or how good a swimmer/soccer player (etc) I was, I still had to pass all the academic and activity courses, successfully complete student teaching, and be awarded my BS degree before I could get a job teaching physical education. Along the way, we students told horror stories about untrained volunteer and professional coaches who meant well but allowed dangerous moves/activities to take place. And we simultaneously praised other volunteer and professional coaches who mentored, encouraged and nurtured us as we developed our personal athletic skills.
Supervised clinical experiences is still a great idea. Putting this requirement into practice is the hard part, but not impossible. Those of you in graduate school settings, please start or continue researching this stuff. And let's work together to make this happen instead of pointing fingers at whose fault it is for these ideas not being already in place. Most professions take 20+ years to get where LCs are in only 11. I personally watched Athletic Training develop from a single elective course in my college in 1966 to a 4-year degree by the mid-80's. Now there are AT Masters programs available in many places. Is LC work more complex than Athletic Training? I sure think so. LCs are just starting the journey toward a "formal" profession and can move ahead only if we catch each other doing something RIGHT, and build on our successes - just like we help our clients build on their successes.
Linda Smith, Dayton OH
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre
http://www.bflrc.com/bflrc.htm
|
