Wow Renee,
I am trying to take your post in the best light, sincerely, but need to clarify, 
as a hospital based RN, (BSN) IBCLC why I think that my background DOES 
contribute to my job in the setting that I work.  My hosptial only employs RN 
IBCLC's. There are 7 of us.  We show up for work to do the best job that we 
can for our patients..If they don't like us..they don't come back for their next 
child and they too tell their doctors and they won't refer their patients to us 
after discharge or consult us while in the hospital.  I am VERY concerned 
about customer service.  Employees in Maternity care are first line hospital 
experiences for many families and women ususally make the health care 
decisions for their families so..yes, we try to make our care the very best.  My 
background in Nursing is in Critical care (adults) and NICU.  I can't tell you 
how often that I pull from previous nursing experiences and knowledge in my 
work as an IBCLC.  I do think there is a perspective and background that is 
available from an RN that would be absent from another discipline and this is 
important in the HOSPITAL (acute) setting where patients may have 
confounding health problems that need to be considered and dealt with along 
with their lactation experience. I believe that it is necessary to have health 
care professionals in the health care setting.  The beauty of the lactation 
consultant is that we come from all walks of life with various backgrounds and 
we all have a place in the management of lactation..just from different 
perspectives and perhaps from different locations. Your background as a 
teacher gives you an advantage in educating mothers and other professionals 
for which I have more of a learning curve. I believe that we should build on 
our backgrounds and find the place for which we can use our talents in the 
best, most efficient way! I hope that my post is taken in a positive light as 
well.

Christine Hansson BSN, RN, IBCLC
Lancaster PA


" being an RN has NOTHING to do with being a good LC. =20
You should hear the stories I've heard when I see the mom after the
RN/IBCLC=20
in the hospital.  I'm not saying that RN's are worse than non RN's
or anything=20
like that!  But I have seen that many, many LC's who are privileged to work
on=20
a salaried basis get to the point after a while that they just show up."

"I know most of you are working hard t=
o=20
make changes in hospitals, with nurses, drs, etc and I know it must be very=
=20
frustrating.  But just because you're an RN does not make you uniquely=20
qualified to be IBCLC.  In fact i think sometimes it gets in the way."

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