Judith,

This is a slap in a good LC's face. At my facility, breastfeeding rates are
low. We do about 100 deliveries a month and 40-50% bf. So yesterday I saw 8
patients, made f/u calls, faxed some info to several docs, and left in about
6.5 hrs.
Today I had 4 patients (one on a telemetry floor) and several f/u calls, and
received incoming calls from a couple docs re meds, and was gathering
together alot of info for my boss on a particular bf issue. I left in 6 hrs.
I spend alot of time with them and do careful documentation. Today I was
syringe feeding a baby (takes time) for example and helping the same mother
pump and harvest the colostrum for the baby. I could not physically see 26
pairs in 8 hrs and keep my sanity. That is asking way too much!
My friend who works at my facility and on weekends at another one, has the
same problem as you do at the other hospital. She is not on email but those
LCs are constantly being told to cut the time they spend with patients. F/u
calls have been d/cd but the LCs often do it on their own time. consults
have been d/cd too. They were expected to see a consult in 1/2 hr.
My advice is to write everything down that you did today if you can, and
also to invite the supervisor to follow you for one day. Twenty minutes per
patient x 26 pts is 8.6 hrs. It takes longer than that to see difficult pts,
e.g. tongue tie, and premie/nicu cases. The charting takes time, do you
chart in several places? Do you make f/u calls and/or get any incoming
calls. Do you rent/sell pumps/supplies? That adds to time spent. also the LC
should allow some time to use the rest room and eat lunch (ha ha).
One thing I posted on earlier this week was suggestions on time management.
Mainly becoz I hate walking back and forth to my office to retrieve
supplies. Perhaps you could suggest, rather than to take time away from the
patients, that you guys brainstorm as to ways to reduce unnecessary charting
and time. You could have a rolling cart w/ all your supplies. You could
develop a quicker charting system. You could have other staff set up pumps
and do rentals. Generate some ideas that do not take away from patient care.

Laurie Wheeler, IBCLC, MN, RN
New Orleans Louisiana, s.e. USA

_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

             ***********************************************

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(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html