I wanted to share this with all of you and hope others may get this
opportunity.
My coworker, who is also a LC, and I were asked to give a presentation on
breastfeding to a group of second year med. students. We were given an hour.
We really wanted to make an impression and not loss any of them to the 'nods'.
So we decided that basic breastfeeding would not be the best topic.
We started out introducing ourselves and then explaining what an LC was and
our credentials. Then we asked their breastfeeding backgrounds. Next we set up
a game, "Stump the LC". We asked them to name any area of medicine and we
needed to give them some example of how breastfeeding would be related to that
area. They had to come up with 5 we couldn't answer.
They loved this and we had to finally call it quits after 20 minutes. The
pediatrician who was running the group also got into the game and bailed us
out on some very obscure fields. This game gave us an opportunity to explain
the advantages of breast milk to moms and babies, explore research ideas, and
how to handle and preserve breastfeeding in different circumstances. The only
area we gave them as a stump was Forensic Medicine.
We finished the hour covering the outcomes/risks of formula, what they could
do to impact breastfeeding in the future, and copies of several articles. We
ended the class with the film "Self Attachment", only the first baby.
I wish all my classes were as fun and the participants were as eager to learn.
We plan to write this up in JHL under Clinical Practices.
Thanks for letting me share this.
Ann Perry RN IBCLC
Boston, Mass