Kathy is fed up with her hospital's unwillingness to respect her declared desire to follow the intent of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and not use discharge bags, cribs cards, measuring tapes etc. provided by the formula manufacturers.
Smile Smile Smile while you seek a meeting with the supervisor of the manager who has already pooh-poohed your declared desire. Bring with you:
(1) IBLCE Code of Ethics
(2) ILCA Standards of Practice
(3) Int'l Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes
(4) The appropriate scope of practice as an RN, etc.
(5) Download from www.ilca.org the page listing all the links to all the medical professional associations and global health organizations that call upon their members to promote and protect breastfeeding as a public health imperative
(6) Download the Executive Summary of the recent AHRQ Report on Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes of Breastfeeding in Developed Countries
(7) Check out not only www.banthebags.org, but also www.nofreelunch.org. The former deals with the pervasive and negative impact of formula marketing in hospitals; the latter discusses the pervasive and negative impact, generally, of pharmaceutical marketers in the health care arena.
(8) Next -- pay a visit to your hospital's website. I am willing to bet the home page has a link to the mission or vision of your institution. I am further willing to bet it proclaims that good health and optimal medical care/choices are the ideal ... the goal ... the very raison d'etre of your facility. Start downloading.
(9) Check out your institution's vendor policies: often it is a stated (and prohibited) conflict of interest for the hospital to have an "exclusive" contract with one manufacturer of goods or supplies. Are the formula bags coming from one company? Probably!
(10) Check out the hospital's HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices. If sales reps -- from any manufacturer or goods or supplies -- are freely roaming and stocking the shelves in patient areas, you have yourself a classic HIPAA violation (subjecting the hospital to civil and crminal liability).
(11) Then, rememembering you are to Smile Smile Smile, ask the supervisor's supervisior why it is that you are being required to hand out formula discharge bags when:
* Every professional association for health care providers has issued statements in support of BF;
* The AHRQ provides meta-analysis in evidentiary support of the notion that the public health benefits, population-wide, when mothers and babies BF (including reduced hospital re-admissions, which ain't cheap);
* The Int'l Code has recognized the pervasive and negative impact of formula marketing in the heatlh care arena for years;
* Your own professional ass'n and certifying authority require adherence to the Int'l Code as a means of upholding the best-practices for which you are trained and credentialed as a professional lactation consultant;
* Other facilities [in the city, state or country] have recognized this as well, banning the bags [and pharmaceutical marketers, generally] from their premises;
* Your own hospital supports the goals of providing optimal, evidence-based care [see hospital home page] and has a policy against inappropriate conflicts of interest and protection of privacy;
* And--last but not least: you were hired to offer health care to patients, not free and unpaid marketing for the manufacturer of anything (which is why you aren't wearing lapel pins from the bed-pan mfgr nor using pens from the IV bag mfgr nor scribbling notes on pads from the makers of the suture kits); and
* The hospital is losing out on a golden opportunity to toot its own horn: by passing out freebies emblazoned with the hospital's logo (rather than that of a formula brand, or pain reliever, or car for that matter), mothers will have a constant reminder of their happy birth expereince -- and we all know that women are the health-care-treatment decision-makers, for their families, in most US households, for years and years and years.
In closing, Smile.
Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLCWyndmoor, PA, USA
_________________________________________________________________
Climb to the top of the charts! Play Star Shuffle: the word scramble challenge with star power.
http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_oct
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
|
