In the light of the nurse/non-nurse discussion here, I have to add my 2 agarot. This is not to be taken as "nurse bashing." As a non-nurse IBCLC in a hospital, and in a country where the profession will probably be handed over to the nurses as we continue to teach them courses and allow the system to limit these courses to nurses only, I have to say that I am very troubled. I have coined the phrase "nurse-brain" to describe what bothers me. And this may be a failure of the nurse training system which should be addressed. Nurses need to translate everything into numbers and protocols, and those of us from other disciplines do not. For example, last week, I was working with one of my favorite nurses who is getting her MA, and who is a terrific nurse and so open-minded loves learning about breastfeeding. We were working with one of those huge breasted moms,and in the course of helping her I put a rolled up towel under her breast. The nurse thought that was great. Within two days, every mom no matter what, was being told to breastfeed with a towel under her breast. I specifically explained that it was an aid for large breasted moms!! I had a student with me, a midwife from a hospital in Jerusalem, who has been given the project of turning her department into more breastfeeding friendly. Her supervisor does not see the need to send her out to a course, since she breastfed 5 babies and how much do you need to know anyway. She said that now she understands what I mean by "nurse brain." The use of cabbage is another symptom. Every mom with the slightest bit of swelling is walking around with cabbage in her bra. Where is this coming from? I definitely see the fact that I am not a nurse as a huge advantage, however there is one nurse from another hospital who feels it is a scandal that Lis Hospital has an LC who is not a nurse. To me it is a scandal that there are nurses working in nurseries all over the country who know nothing about breastfeeding. I would like to hear from nurses out there why non-nurses should not be working in the hospital setting, or any setting for that matter!! When I approached the head nurse of our dept. about hiring another IBCLC because I am unable to continue doing all the breastfeeding by myself she told me two things. First that she will only hire an IBCLC who is a RN, and in the next breath that her nurses hate helping mothers with breastfeeding. Esther Grunis, NN (non nurse), IBCLC who thinks that our profession comes from the heart, not from the brain. No insult intended to any discipline. mailto:[log in to unmask] *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html