I think it depends on the mind-set of the hospital administrators. I work at a teaching hospital that delivers about 2500 babies per year. We have 4 lactation consultants and only one of us is an RN. I don't think anyone has even considered/thought about pulling her for any RN duties, however, many of the staff assume we are RN's until we tell them differently. I also think RN IBLCE's (no flames here, please...) sometimes struggle with thinking outside of the "medical box" 
 
As far as RN's being able to identify problems, my colleague here at the hospital (who is a non-RN IBCLC) recently picked up on a problem with a baby who was transferred to NICN and later found to have Hirshprung's. In my 26 years of practicing as a non-RN IBCLC here at the hospital, I have referred a baby who was found to have bilary atresia and needed a liver transplant, called a pediatrician who had just seen a baby that I subsequently saw who died several days later of NEC, referred a baby who later was transferred out to a higher level of care with a rare inborn metabolic disorder, and found a cleft of the soft palate in a 6 week old baby that had been overlooked by a pediatrician and a midwife. In each of these cases the medical professionals (peds and RN's) involved were blaming the feeding problems on the breastfeeding.
 
 
Thank you for listening to my vent!
 
Holly McSpadden, IBCLC (with a non-RN background in psychology...) 
 
 
Holly McSpadden IBCLC
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(912) 350-8164

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