"Is the IBCLC a stand-alone professional?" 

Laurie writes "I think the answer is to ensure the education and training of the IBCLC candidate includes all of the things that are being talked about that an LC would know about, look for, and identify (mother/baby problems, anatomical issues, etc)."

Are we there yet? IBLCE has, until recently, required that IBCLCs have another qualification - whether a health care qualification, a social work or pyschology degree, or other degree. It is perhaps no wonder that hospitals prefer the 'other qualification' be one that is most relevant to the sector that the IBCLC operates within?

The new Health Science prerequisites are, in  my mind, a step in the right direction to an IBCLC being recognised as a stand-alone Health Care Professional, but only a step. I don't believe that any employer would consider the current 'patched-together' Health Science subjects as an education pathway for a stand-alone professional. 

Non-HCP IBCLCs are proof that hard work, experience, self-study and determination are one way of being recognised as a stand-alone professional - but apparently not at an institutional level as employment opportunities for non-HCP IBCLCs appear to be rare (does ILCA have any statistics on employment?). Until we have a recognised study-path within the tertiary education system, I don't believe that IBCLCs will be widely recognised as stand-alone Health Care Professionals. 

Alice Farrow
Rome, Italy
www.cleftlipandpalatebreastfeeding.com
www.languageofinclusion.com
'Want to be an IBCLC?' https://www.facebook.com/groups/wanttobeanibclc/?ref=br_tf

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