Hello Wise Ones,

The need for precise and consistent definitions for the purpose of research is without question.  Virginia stated well the reasons why.

And I suspect we all agree that the language we use has meaning - thank you to Diane Wiessenger.  Especially when used to describe someone else's situation.

I wonder if some of the friction is that the intent of a researcher is different than that of a clinician.  

When I agree to participate in research it is a given that the purpose isn't the same as me going to an appointment with my healthcare provider.  The duty of a healthcare provider, and there are some nuanced differences here depending on the initials behind your name, is first and foremost primum non nocere, to do no harm.  My role, as I see it, in a clinical setting is to address the issues at hand, to maximize/support healthy behavior and in terms of charting, accurately describe all of this and what I have done.  That is the accepted contract between the client and myself.  A researcher, on the other hand, has had to get a different kind of consent with the understanding that the intent is to know more about a larger issue or problem.  

I believe the questions we ask and the analysis we give are in fact interventions.  

As a clinician, unless the context asks for it, I suspect many of us would agree that it isn't up to us to figure out how much breastmilk the babe is getting, or whose it is, or how it's given and then assign a precise term for it.  The expectations regarding whether or not this is done would be very different if my client is under my care for a 12 hour shift in hospital, in which I can fairly accurately say that this babe has received exclusive breastmilk at the breast (at least for my shift) v.s. an outpatient setting where a mom has come to see me about sore nipples.  In the first situation, I made need to make an analysis (and more importantly record my care accurately -  this is the professionalism that Jeanette speaks of) especially if my hospital is BFI certified.  In the second I may or may not.

So questions and answers to come without context and I wonder if that is some of the discomfort with "judging"?

Curiously,
Tina


Port Alberni, BC, Canada

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