Our 450 births/year community hospital does not see the need to have an
LC on staff.  Supervisor doesn't even wish to designate certain "BF Friendly"
staff nurses to be assigned to BF mothers.  Supervisor feels that "all my
staff should be competant to teach BF to new moms" even when I mentioned that
even a subtle preference for bottlefeeding will come through loud and clear.
     That said, my question is :  What size are the hospitals which employ
Lactation consultants?  Are most part time?  Are you independant?  Is it
possible to persuade the hospital in this age of managed care that this is a
valuable service?  Can a Lactation consultant actually help the bottom line?
    There is an IBCLC within 20 miles who will be approached by the hospital
to provide staff education and perhaps outreach to the peds offices.  But, I
would like to have a VERY knowledgeable staff member on board.  I would also
like the financial burden of her education to be (at least) shared by the
hospital.
     If this is inappropriate to the list, PLEASE e-mail me privately.  I
think our hospital can do much better, but I am swimming upstream.

tina
Ohio,USA
If there are any Ohio LCs who wouldn't mind a tag-along sometime, please get
in touch also.

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html