Denise Fisher comments:

> Just a note to Amy ... you may be refusing to see a person, but by giving
> advice over the phone (you mentioned something about this in women you
> weren't intending to take on) you have actually legally accepted a
> professional relationship with the woman - and doing a phone assessment
and
> giving even minimal advice is pretty scary.  Perhaps some of our legal
> people could comment here.  Iona - is this true in Australia.  Billie Jean
> what's your comment re the US situation?  Anyone else?

Denise, I agree with you here.
We keep a log of all calls to our Breastfeeding Centre. I believe there is a
legal requirement here (I tried to find a reference on 'web' but no luck).
If it is a current client of ours then notes are also made in the 'lactation
history'. If it is a general query then this documented in the log along
with the mother's name and phone no.
If the mother needs assessment she is directed to her GP or invited in for a
consult, depending on the situation/urgency. If its urgent I may ask her to
come in that day, or I may give her enough info to get her through, till she
comes in for an appointment. It really depends on the nature of the call.
Personally I try to avoid lengthy phone consults as I often don't feel I get
the 'full picture' over the phone, and it takes me away from the clients I
have there at the time.
If it is the sort of query that an ABA counsellor could handle then I also
ask the mother if she would like their phone No.
Is this the type of comment you were looking for?
Cheers
Karen Clements
IBCLC Melb Aust

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

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

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