Oh please. This is the kind of knee-jerk reaction that drives me crazy.
Maybe there is some merit to the nurse expert's legal position, but to just
stop phone calls is ridiculous. What is needed, I think, are some
safeguards. For example, documentation and a way to refer when needed to the
primary doc. Perhaps a standard of care or protocol, for example for certain
frequently encountered conditions like engorgement, nipple pain or trauma,
breast pain etc. These 'triage tools' or protocols could be approved by a
committee and the docs in charge. Also a safeguard should be in place as to
who is making/taking the f/u calls. If it is the IBCLC then he/she already
has the proper credentials, standards of care, ethical guidelines etc. I
don't know that a regular staff nurse should handle the calls. I consider
myself to be functioning (in a hospital/medical model) as a clinical nurse
specialist. I would want to meet w/ this nurse expert and my manager to find
out what exactly are the legal concerns, legal precedents that she is
worried about.

["can no longer give out ANY information on the phone due to the advice of
an expert nurse who was brought in to advise us on legal issues ..tell
them...to come to the ER"]

Laurie Wheeler, IBCLC, MN, RN
New Orleans Louisiana, s.e. USA




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