Elizabeth:thank you for that great response!I am going to print it out and
post it in my office in order to remind me every day!
On Jun 17, 2015 5:48 AM, "Elizabeth Brooks" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The question is posed, by a Baby-Friendly-designation hopeful: "Can we
> display,use, or give away any Medela products including any educational
> material? I know they are not WHO compliant. We are expanding our employee
> pumping room and would like to provide breast pads, wipes, cleaning
> supplies, as well as some educational information to our employees and
> nursing moms."
>
> My answer would be: No, and it has nothing to do with the [WHO] Code or
> Baby-Friendly.  It has to do with conflict of interest analysis.
>
> Any time a healthcare institution or healthcare provider (HCP) gives out
> branded samples or flyers about *any* pharmaceutical, medical device, or
>  -- for us, in Lactation Land -- equipment and supplies used in
> breastfeeding, it is a professional conflict of interest.  We are, as I
> like to put it, "bathing the product with the legitimacy of our healthcare
> profession" every single time we use a pen with a drug brand, or wear a
> lanyard with a pump company name or sip from a vessel with the logo of an
> herbal tea emblazoned upon it.
>
> Baby-Friendly requires facilities to respect the Code -- and the long and
> the short of that means: buy your formula, and don't take other freebies.
> For anything you are using, obtain it in an arms-length, business-like
> negotiation and commercial transaction.  And have the pros down in
> Materials Managment do the negotiating and buying -- NOT the clinicians who
> see patients.
>
> I might add, as a side note: Why in the heck would a hospital, with IBCLCs
> on staff no less, rely on a commercial manufacturer of anything to be the
> source for materials about healthcare, breastfeeding and expression, given
> to employees and patients?  Surely the IBCLCs on staff can come up with a
> decent one-pager about BFg management, or safe skin-to-skin, or hands-on
> pump use.
>
> Aside from the conflict of interest issues of using manufactuer's info,
> this is a golden opportunity for the *hospital* to start marketing itself!
> Why give a family something with a company logo on it, when they can have
> something with the hospital logo on it?  We know that women tend to drive
> healthcare decisions in families ...and women tend to favor hopsitals where
> they have had a nice birth experience.  Why would a facility NOT want to
> toot its own horn to a person, who has DECADES of decision -making yet to
> come, about where to send Johnny for his broken leg, and Grandma for her
> glaucoma operation, and Aunt Jane for her gall bladder procedure?
>
>
>
> --
> Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC, FILCA
> Wyndmoor, PA, USA
>
>              ***********************************************
>
> Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
> To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
> Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
> COMMANDS:
> 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email:
> set lactnet nomail
> 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
> 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
>

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome