Thanks to all who responded to Fleur's query about how everyone keeps 
up with research.  And thanks to Fleur for asking the question!   I'm 
taking notes.  As "just" an IBCLC I also find it very challenging to 
keep up with everything, particularly in my field of interest, HIV 
and breastfeeding.  I do PubMed searches regularly, but when an 
abstract looks particularly good, or particularly bad (!), I really 
want to read the whole paper, including the methodology and the 
discussion to find out exactly how the research was conducted, and if 
anything was missed, and perhaps to see who funded the study 
too.  There are often letters and commentaries which don't have an 
abstract on PubMed and I'm beginning to think that it's like having a 
copy of Encyclopaedia Brittanica when what you really need is a full 
website search!

I'm very lucky to have many kind friends and colleagues who alert me 
to new developments, and also often send me full-text pdf 
articles.  I also belong to lots of lists where information is 
generously shared, but this is a fast-moving field and I would like 
to find a way to _know_ that I can be as up to date as it's possible 
to be, and to be sure that I don't miss anything important.  I'm 
currently exploring with the UK ILCA affiliate whether there is a way 
for them to access journal articles in a similar way that nurses and 
other professionals can obtain them in the UK. But now it occurs to 
me that perhaps our international association, ILCA, might think 
about offering such a facility to their members.  There are what? 
about 4000 of us worldwide?  If we consider how many of us write and 
present and lecture on the thousands of different aspects of 
lactation and breastfeeding that there are - or how often we need to 
find the answer to a question for a client, or an uncertain primary 
HCP - or keep up to date in order to recertify - it seems that we 
_all_ need to be able to access the lactation and breastfeeding 
research.  I, for one, would jump at the chance even to pay a bit 
extra on my subs in order to be able to type in my membership number 
to search Pediatrics or Eur J Clin Nutr or  J Clin Microbiol, or 
some-such to obtain current or past research.  Does this sound too 
wishful and impractical?  If not, who at ILCA would be the best 
person to approach?

Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Rustington, England  

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