My mind wandered during conference yesterday and I began to consider the possibility of a study evaluating the knowledge of surgeons with regards to lactation. The idea of a survey asking "what would you do with this situation"-type questions started to formulate itself. I thought of questions regarding use of pain medications, effects of anesthesia, interventions like pumping for inpatients, treatment of mastitis/breast abscess, and liklihood of consulting an LC. I have done NO background research to see what similarly-guided studies have been published, but plan to do that over the next several weeks, while doing my "real" work, so I apologize in advance if the study idea fizzles out due to overlap with previous publications etc. I'm interested to know if there are any specific questions that commonly come up, areas where physicians (specifically surgeons) commonly do the "wrong" thing. It would be most helpful if there is data as to what the "right" thing is, otherwise I can't argue that it is a misperception only a difference of opinion (and knowing my colleagues, they will simply conclude that they are right and the lactation community is mistaken ;) Also, because of the response rate to surveys, and the fact that this should be skewed to surgeons who deal commonly with women of childbearing age, I would need to do this on a scale larger than my institution. I may consider a survey sent to the members of the American College of Surgeons, though I have no funding for this, so that may prove a difficulty. Any LC or physician who is interested in this, please feel free to contact me privately. BTW, I am currently trying out the emailed Medline search for breastfeeding abstracts and will let those of you who contacted me know if it is feasible for a yahoo group. Shannon McElearney, MD PGY4, General Surgery errant Research Fellow, Surgical Infectious Diseases Research Lab University of Virginia and nursing mama to 18 month old Jack *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html