EDITOR'S FORWARD
Marie Davis has produced a monumentally useful and practical work in The Lactation Consultant's Clinical Practice Manual. This manual is sorely needed. Nothing else currently available fills this niche. I am pleased to publish her work.
The first section is a detailed look at becoming and practicing as a lactation consultant. Marie's extensive experience as a nurse and lactation consultant working with breastfeeding mother-baby dyads is obvious in the clear, specific practice guidelines. Next is a collection of Policies that establish the framework for operating a lactation service, whether the practice is part of a hospital, physician's office, public health or other clinic, or private practice. The third section is an extensive set of Protocols which address the most common problems and situations that present at a lactation service. Marie's phrasing of the rationales reflects a deep and thorough understanding of the breastfeeding mother-baby dyad. The appendices contain a wealth of sample contracts, job descriptions, billing information, clinical charting forms, business forms, weight conversion and daily intake charts, and much more. These are re-arranged slightly from the original configuration so that similar documents are grouped together.
We intend this manual to be a living document that can be used in many settings. The three-ring binder format and single-sided printing are designed to allow the reader to customize, update, expand and/or revise any or all of the individual sections in order to tailor the manual's information to her or his specific clinical setting.
Since Marie wrote this manual, ILCA has published the Standards of Practice for Lactation Consultant's, and IBLCE has published the Code of Ethics for Lactation Consultant's. New research on nipple wound healing, milk synthesis, and other topics continues to appear in the professional literature, and will likely change some of the specific recommendations to mothers. However, the manual's systematic framework for approaching a lactation situation allows flexibility as new research information confirms or modifies existing practices.
Lactation professionals who come from a mother-support background and are not also nurses may find the meticulous policies and procedures to be a different approach from informal interactions with breastfeeding mothers. At this writing, over 8000 International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC's) worldwide are working closely and collaboratively with mother-support group counselors, physicians, dietitians, and other professionals to define the parameters of this newly emerging profession. This manual moves the formalization of the lactation consultant profession a quantum leap forward. By its careful attention to documentation, policies and procedures, this manual will help establish Lactation Consultants as valued members of the health care team in all clinical settings.
Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre
July 1998
Copyright Bright Future Lactation Resources 1998
Marie Davis, RN, IBCLC 1999