Hi, I’m feeling very “two steps forward, one step back.”  Liz and Jake and
Marsha, I really need your eyes here!
 
Last week I was very excited when our postpartum mgr sent out the notice
that formula sales people will no longer be allowed into the nurseries to
“make nice” with the staff.  Instead staff was encouraged to use their time
to care for the mothers and babies.
 
Today we got an announcement to all the postpartum staff saying “Since the
formula vendors are no longer permitted in the nurseries without
accompaniment, we are scheduling mini-in-services in the quiet lounges so
you might benefit from their educational presentations”  The title:
“Compositional Differences & Clinical Outcomes of Infant Formula”“Strong
Babies Start Here.” 
 
 I need, please, gentle education ideas.  The mgr has a good heart.  She
just doesn’t understand the issue yet deep in her soul, and she readily fell
for the formula salesman’s ploy.  We want to be encouraging, not
disparaging.  Any suggestions?  Most especially, are there any articles from
nursing journals anyone can suggest?
 
My instinct is to attend the inservice (skip the food) so the salesman has
to be careful about what he says and then to later, privately, ask our mgr
why the nurses needed this information.  To my understanding, nurses
shouldn’t be recommending specific formulas. They should follow hospital
policy or the doctor’s order, right? I thought that if a non-MD specifically
recommended any non-biologically-natural compound is safe to be given to a
particular baby (which would mean anything other than breastmilk) that it
would count as “practicing medicine without a license.”  Is that right?  If
so, the nurses don’t need to know why brand Y is different from brand
X----unless someone is hoping the nurses will help with promoting a
particular brand~~~which could easily be understood as marketing.
 
Is that a reasonable tactic?
Does anyone have any additional ideas?  Remember, the focus is education!
 
Debbi Heffern
 
 

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