The discussion about pathways is wonderful, useful, and thought-provoking.
Let's not let it die. We can see how infuriating it is to all of us to live
in a world of how the issues of RN vs non RN, mother support leaders earning
'free' (in some people's eyes) hours annually, the intrinsic unfairness of the
system to doulas, midwives and others who may practice independently, yet
are qualified, and the seemingly senseless rules of hospitals for hiring
IBCLCs, even within the same city and systems, put additional stress on many
already stressed, burned out IBCLCs, as well as those who want to become stress,
burned out IBCLCs.
Ms Feather, I have never heard of such dedication to pursuing hours and such
imagination and cooperation and love of the profession by both you and your
mentors. You deserve to be congratulated by every single person on this
listserve. You make an excellent, cherished point. Our credential should be
good enough to stand alone. But in many people's eyes it is not yet. This is
not anybody's fault, but there are ways to fix it. Our professional
association, ILCA, should make this a top priority on the US agenda; those RN/IBCLCs
should stop making such a big deal about their RNs and how it 'makes them a
better IBCLC'; individuals without RNs should apply to hospitals and ask to see
the written hospital policy that strictly forbids hiring of IBCLCs without
the RN credential - be an activist. Local ILCA affiliates could, on a local
level lobby local hospitals, and their lactation directors, to bring this to
the attention of hospital administrators. With guidance, "talking papers,
i.e. guidelines and notes on what to say", every group could do this.
Almost everyone has views on the pathways. The originators of the credential
wanted to guarantee that there would always be a pathway open to
mother-to-mother counselors. It was meant to honor the roots, the foundation of the
profession, which grew from La Leche League. If you are not familiar with this
story, read the first page of IBCLE's Candidate Information Guide or the LLL
Website. When the credential was created, that was a time when many
counselors did not have college educations. That meant they would fall under pathway
D, requiring 6000 hours of practice. Without a college education, it would
be nearly impossible to acquire these hours. Many people now, especially the
non-medical profession new moms who are "in love" with breastfeeding and what
their IBCLC did for them are motivated to do the same for others want to
fast track and for them Pathway F was the answer. Some will argue that the 4
year of post secondary education vs 2 years of post secondary education is
discriminatory; others argue that doctors who know practically nothing and don't
need to be 'supervised' become eligible by virtue of only being MDs. Is
that fair? Now the ABM (Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is creating its own
'credential' --- actually more of a designation of interest and achievement
rather than hands on work). Fewer people than you'd think take advantage of
pathways G and H, but they are almost never the pathway B people, and nearly
always the Pathway A applicants. Why is this? I leave you to draw your own
conclusions.
Regardless of how you feel about the pathways, whether or not a formal
educational track/degree with REAL mentoring should be developed or not, let's
talk about education. The pathways, all of the except the defunct (hopefully
not forever F) have no requirements, no clinical competencies checklist as F
did. I find this (a) hard to believe and (b) unacceptable, if we are not going
to have a standardized university program established.
ILCA has just instituted a new Education Department, headed by Judi Lauwers,
a longtime educator in the field. She needs to know what we think is
necessary.
Please think about this. People have been responding directly to me, which
is great, but please, please post to the board. Lactnet is meant for
discussion--not just of clinical issues, but also of issues that affect our careers.
Barbara
***********************************************
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
|