Please, no flames, as this is my humble opinion. I've often wondered why, from the beginning, our "profession" did not require a course of formal training, as is required in other professions. I am a nurse, so I will speak to my own profession. There is not a state in the US that will grant a license to practice to an aspiring nurse without that individual showing proof that s/he has successfully matriculated thru an accredited school of nursing, as well as showing proof of having passed the profession's state licensing boards. It seems to me that ILCA requires only half of other professions' requirements - the licensing exam. Where is the formal training? I feel that the number of clinical hours required to sit the exam focuses way too much on numbers of hours, rather than quality of hours. Requiring a standardized training course, so that all graduates of the course have a similar level of training, only makes sense. I couldn't imagine practicing as an LC without the formal courses of training I have, just as I could not imagine practicing as a nurse without similar training. I am UCLA-trained in both the educator and consultant courses, which are Master's level courses thru UCLA Extension, have been in practice for 25 years in the hospital setting (having, on the average, 200+ patient contacts/month) and take many continuing education courses/seminars every year. Also, serve as adjunct UCLA faculty for their Lactation Training Program. Have never sat the IBLCE exam, but planning to do so this year, as I'm quite frankly, getting tired of being critcized for not having entry-level initials behind my name. Other professions do not accept only "on-the-job" experience, so why should we? Formal "schooling" as part of our licensing requirement would go a long way towards the "professionalism" we so greatly desire. I would be more than happy to serve on the committee that is looking into these issues, as I have felt quite strongly about this for many years. Sorry for the rant. Again, my 2 cents. Pam Hirsch, RN,BSN,CLC Clinical Lead, Lactation Services Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Barrington, IL USA I am a little confused about midwives being included in this group of allied and paraprofessionals. Are we talking about lay midwives, nurse- midwives, or both? If nurse-midwives are considered allied or paraprofessional, then what are nurses considered? *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [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(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html