In a message dated 3/15/2007 12:43:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
For those of you who have observed that passing the IBLCE exam does not
guarantee excellence in practice, and who would argue that licensure is not
a good enough guarantee to the public, I remind you that passing the nursing
or medical boards, or the state bar exam, does not guarantee excellence
either. But it's the best we can do in the real world we live in.
Here here Rachel. This is Pam standing on her computer chair and clapping
because you have said it all and said it well. I can think of many times I
wondered where licensed professionals got their credential. Haha. Licensure does
not guarantee quality regardless of how it is given. You still have to
judge each professional on their own merit. But, at least you know they met the
very barest of standards to pass the test.
In my state you need a license to sell real estate or paint nails. I have
no problem with needing a license to practice as long as it does not require
another credential. I would want to work towards protecting the IBCLC
credential. However, unless they change the scope of practice to be more relative to
real IBCLC work, I do not see the point of working toward licensure. If
IBLCE cannot put together a realistic scope of practice, I do not see the value
in licensure. The real possibility however is that each state in the US with
a licensure body would create a SOP even more restrictive and then the
credential stays as it is...restriction of proper care to mothers and babies and
protecting the hcp who gives improper information at the expense of
breastfeeding. When a mom can go online and find article after article that supports
what we are saying to her, who are we to deny her access to the information?
What is the hcp going to do? Forbid the mother to read? Sheeze.
I have been trying to understand the reasoning for this. The only thing I
can come up with is that in a hospital setting, a nurse is not allowed to
contradict an order. It doesn't matter what the order is, she follows it. Yes,
yes, it is not true, she is supposed to refuse, but realistically that is not
the work world and she will be unemployed or whatever if she doesn't go along
with the status quo. So, along comes the private practice non nurse IBCLC who
can indeed share the correct information with the mom and now the mom is
questioning her health care provider. Eeks, no, a mother questions her hcp? We
cannot have that. SO, what to do. Stop the private practice LC too. Now,
when a doctor says it is so, that's it, no one can tell the mother any
different. The mother follows the orders, the baby weans, is exposed to formula, but
hey, formula is not a big deal and we crazy LC people need to get over it,
and everyone is happy. Especially the pharmaceutical companies who profit from
the ignorance of breastfeeding.
I do not see how it would be possible to be an IBCLC and not contradict a
doctor unless you live in breastfeeding utopia and I would so love to live
there, but I do not. I live in the USA where money rules and very few get that
breastfeeding is the normal and needs to be protected. In my area formula is
given routinely as a cure for everything. The Scope needs to fit the reality
of practice or it's only usefulness is to stop private practice non medical
licensed IBCLCs. I still think that is their ultimate goal. I wonder how many
non medical persons there are currently with their IBCLC certification and
what will happen to the IBLCE when they no longer make it possible for anyone
to practice with any ethics unless they are health care providers? Maybe in
this case money will talk too. It is after all the American way. Maybe there
will be enough less people bothering to certify this next exam that they
realize this is a real problem. Perhaps when the numbers start dropping because
less and less people see any point in being gagged and forced to deny care
to any mother not willing to have her hcp involved in every detail of her
life, maybe then they will say oops.
I agree with everyone who has said the IBCLC is the gold standard of
achievement. I never questioned that. I was also so very proud of the achievement.
It was proof of my knowledge and skills and it meant enough to me to
re-certify first by cerps and then exam. I know that this is proof we have at meant
a standard of knowledge that is met by everyone else who passes the same
exam. My only question is why anyone would bother if certification means you
lost your ability to tell mothers what they need to know to successfully
breastfeed. Which brings us back to the beginning. What is the goal of IBLCE with
their new idea of scope of practice that does not protect mothers and babies?
Who profits? Being an American, I know that there is always someone to
profit when mothers and babies are going to lose.
Take care,
Pam MazzellaDiBosco
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