I am no longer on the IBLCE Board, and I hope a current board member or two
will comment.  However, I want to briefly address Cindy Curtis's query about
making re-cert costs the same whether using CERPs or Exam.  If it were up to
me, I'd require CERPs AND re-sitting the exam, because I have concerns about
LC competencies.

There is a whole science that has arisen to study test construction, test
evaluation, and evaluation of professional education.  The data support the
idea that requiring CERPs does not assure continued professional competence
to the degree that re-taking an exam does.  We all know that attending conf.
and workshops is valuable.  This is where you hear new ideas, network, get
to see things (slides) ask questions of experts, and the like.  However,
some people sleep through talks, others go sight-seeing.  Some will go home
and read through and study their handouts; others will put them in a stack,
never look through them again, and consequently may not remember accurately
what they have heard.  I am always shocked what people sometimes tell me
they remember from my lectures:)

Taking a test puts a bit more pressure on us all to perform.  While it can
feel stressful, studying and reviewing force us to consider new info that
has been published since we first certified.  It motivates us to re-think
whether our knowledge base is secure.  That is uncomfortable (and expensive)
for us, but really good for the consumers of our services.  Certification
with periodic forced re-cert by exam is the vanguard position to insure
professional competence, and I am proud that our profession has pioneered
this in US health care.

I absolutely understand the cost issue.  I make about as much yearly as the
average day care worker.  Staying in this field and being current with the
certification is a sacrifice for me, too.  We cannot stop working and caring
about a fair wage for our important work, and we have to continue to
strategize about that or we'll die out.  But we also have to realize as the
second generation of us retires, we are still defining what an LC is and
does.  The public must be assured we are competent.  We are not there yet,
and until we have consistent training in place, the re-cert process is a
vital component of quality assurance.

Barbara Wilson-Clay BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
http://www.lactnews.com

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