----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kershaw Jane" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 8:43 PM
Subject: Re: [LACTNET] To sit for the exam or not?


To Nicole and others:  GO for it, get your IBCLC.  The hospitals will
ONE DAY recognize the IBLCE credential as THE  credential.  Yes, it
needs to get tougher (with supervised practice and maybe an internship?)
I am working with my hospital to show economic justification for LC's,
and our definition of LC is IBLCE - not necessarily a nurse.  It depends
on how the hospital uses the LC - as lactation exclusively or as a
shared staffing person.

**And what about drawing up the exam in a different way...?
I was doing a test exam just this week and was disappointed. I have *so* 
much experience, I have studied *so* diligently and get into cases really 
thoroughly and yet... out of the 105 questions I answered yesterday morning, 
24 were wrong... :-s I was annoyed with it; some questions I find pretty 
dumm and in general, many competencies are not tested *at all* in the exam, 
although they are way more important than knowing how many heart beats a 
newborn has or other issues I raised my eyebrows over. Some people say: "You 
think too much." Maybe. With some questions, I sort of make a dd and then 
come up with all kinds of options not mentioned in the four answers, but not 
asked for in the question either, so I take things into consideration that 
are not spoken of, but in reality would make me a really good lc, because I 
would not only be looking for the obvious, but take into account what has 
not yet been thought of by other HCP's in the case at hand. Thát is what 
gives the lc her (big) added value (and a big responsibility on her 
shoulders, too).
I will immediately agree that it must be hard to draw up good questions and 
that it is hard to make an exam with open questions, if we want it to be 
comparable all over the world. But many things that make up a good lc, are 
not tested in the exam and I think Diane made a good point about certain 
qualities you would like to see in an lc as a new mom. Don't know, though, 
how the fire in the eyes, the passion in the heart, can be tested on 
paper... maybe it should have black edges from the flames, when handed in... 
;o)

Kindly,

Marianne Vanderveen, Netherlands 

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