"When we suggested just getting rid of all gift packs, both the postpartum
head nurses and the administration went balistic.  They claim it is a big
marketing ploy, and the more goodies we give away, the more business
we'll get."

I don't see how that could be true, because that stuff is available
essentially everywhere & anywhere - MD offices, the mailings from the
companies to poor unsuspecting women, anywhere; as I noted, it can't
possibly have any "value" except to the form cos. I don't know if there's
research done on this exact point. I bet (but again, don't have
documentation) that there's more business to be attracted by getting closer
to being Baby-Friendly and touting that. If crummy cheap junk is what's
getting business for your hospital, well that's just sad...How's your
marketing dep't?

Around here, the main impetus to change for the better came when a
free-standing very friendly birth center opened in the next county.
Suddenly, the "tub room" on OB (where we used to store the formula co. junk,
BTW, and no bath had ever been taken in the history of the unit)
metaphorphosized (??word??) into a "jacuzzi room".

Cathy Bargar