To bring the professional lactation community up-to-date, the following is a communication that ILCA members will be receiving shortly -- Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC (ILCA Secretary 2005-08) To ILCA members and all IBCLCs: You may be aware that IBLCE recently published an IBCLC Scope of Practice that has generated a great deal of dialogue. IBLCE removed the document from their website on November 6th to permit review of that document in light of the numerous issues raised about the contents. The ILCA Board applauds the IBLCE decision to remove from their website a document which requires substantial internal review and revision. The ILCA Office staff and Board of Directors have been working diligently in the last two weeks researching the matter of an IBCLC Scope of Practice. ILCA published a Scope of Practice prior to 2000. It was developed by the Professional Education Council, a group of educators which at the time took on special projects for the association. Such work is now done by a formal Professional Development Committee within ILCA. Much of what appeared in the ILCA Scope of Practice was used to develop ILCA’s Standards of Practice, which are a best-practices guideline for professional lactation consultants (available at www.ilca.org). This document also contained a detailed framework of competencies that were incorporated into the Clinical Competencies for IBCLC Practice, a collaborative effort between ILCA and IBLCE (available at www.iblce.org). Material from the original ILCA Scope of Practice was also used to develop ILEAC’s accreditation guidelines and to identify subject areas for ILCA’s Core Curriculum. The ILCA Scope of Practice also acknowledges and supports the IBLCE Code of Ethics, containing the mandatory code of conduct expected of IBCLCs (also at www.iblce.org). The ILCA Board of Directors remains in discussion with the IBLCE Board and its Executive Director regarding the contents of and appropriate venue for the profession’s Scope of Practice. Some question whether the existence of IBLCE’s document entitled "IBCLC Scope of Practice" binds an IBCLC to a practice methodology which seems to contradict the ILCA Standards of Practice as well as several sections of the IBLCE Code of Ethics. There is also a question of whether such a document would be more rightly vested with the professional association (ILCA), rather than an independently-run certifying authority (IBLCE). A copy of ILCA’s Scope of Practice will be posted on the website on Monday, 13 November 2006 (www.ilca.org) and is currently available on the Discussion board on the Members Only side of the website. Until such time as a new Scope of Practice is available, ILCA encourages all IBCLCs to use this document in addition to the current ILCA Standards of Practice and IBLCE Code of Ethics as a guideline for optimal professional lactation consultation. Thank you for your patience as your professional association works to resolve the inconsistencies and confusion generated by IBLCE’s recent publication. Rebecca Mannel President ILCA Board of Directors _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with old friends and meet new ones with Windows Live Spaces http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwsp0070000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://spaces.live.com/spacesapi.aspx?wx_action=create&wx_url=/friends.aspx&mkt=en-us *********************************************** 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 email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html