Phyllis asked: "LC cart? Tell me more! I'm always interested in the work methods of other hospital-based LCs in case there's an idea we can adopt ourselves. What do you keep on your cart? What hosp dept(s) pay for your supplies? Other helpful comments?" Since she asked on LN, I'll respond here. We picked up a 3-level laundry cart that has bins about 12 inches deep for the lower 2 levels and one about 4 inches deep for the top level. I think the cost was less than $60. In the top bin I keep various handouts that aren't part of the patient binder, but which we will hand out in appropriate situations (e.g., about working, pumping for a NICU baby, LLL info, etc.) There is also some of the smaller "equipment" such as 3.5 Fr feeding tubes, 20 cc syringes, 12cc syringes, my serrated knife, extra pens, and the like. Middle bin contains a couple each of larger breastfeeding aids (Habermans, SNS) and samples of good hand pumps and the Mini electric. The bottom bin has been removed and there we have examples of the larger breastpumps (P&S, PY and Lactina for those who used a Classic as inpatient but will be renting when they go home and need to be shown the differences). The LC's don't rent or sell any pumps, just let moms know what's available and what works/doesn't work well. The cart makes it so much easier when I wind up needing to use a breastfeeding aid or show a mom various pumps. Our office is currently about as far as you can get from the unit and still be on the same floor! (When we started up a few years ago, we had to take what we could get.) When our next major building/revision happens (starting later this year) our office will be right in the middle of the birthing unit! I usually leave the cart outside the patient's door unless I know I'm going to need something from it. Most times, I don't need anything, but when I do it's much nicer to have it at hand than waaaaay down the hall! A side benefit is that if someone needs to find me, they just look to see what room the cart is next to. The cart is also great for hauling equipment to classes. Slides, video, doll etc. pile nicely on top and the other stuff is there if we need it. We are "under" Women's Health and are budgeted through them. Whenever we use any aids with an outpatient, we charge the mom for them (just a little over cost) which helps keep overall expenses low. (We aren't charging for outpatient visits yet.) When we use something from our supplies with an inpatient, we aren't able to charge. There is some equipment (pump kits, Habermans and starter SNS's (if they ever get back in stock)) on the unit with charge stickers. We can charge inpatients for those. From time to time we use something from the unit for outpatients (primarily the feeding tubes and syringes), so we figure it evens out in the long run. Winnie *********************************************** 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