RN - NICU Lactation Consultant

The Lactation Consultant (LC) is a certified registered nurse skilled in assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation to assist the breastfeeding mother-baby dyad with feeding and help the mother to achieve her individual goals. The LC functions as a member of the multi-disciplinary health care team as a consultant, educator, and mentor to nurses, healthcare professionals, and patients and their families. The LC demonstrates behaviors that model the core values and mission statement for the organization.

Position Responsibilities

Clinical Judgment: 

• Provide advanced assessment and interpretation, implement nursing care plans and support, and evaluate outcomes for the breastfeeding population based on provider/nurse referrals for breastfeeding or pumping issues within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and other clinical areas of the hospital that request lactation consultation.  
• Initiate and receive referrals from physicians, nursing staff, and families.
• Use current lactation theories and research to develop evidence-based feeding plans that address individual feeding issues, such as nutritional requirements, while respecting the family’s breastfeeding goals.
• Demonstrate the ability to assess/meet the psychosocial and developmental age-related needs of the specific population served.
• Participates in daily bedside rounds for appropriate patient population. 
• Facilitate follow-up phone calls for recently discharged breastfeeding patients.
• Document teaching, plan of care, and progress in electronic record. 
• Recommend breastfeeding equipment and devices when their use is appropriate to the lactating mother and her breastfeeding infant. 
• Demonstrate knowledge of pharmaceuticals and the effects on lactation for postpartum mother’s and neonates.
• Adhere to the International Lactation Consultant’s Association (ILCA) Standards of Practice.

Facilitator of Learning: 

• Demonstrate clinical expertise while supporting the breastfeeding mother-baby dyad. Provides evidence-based education or teaching skills to direct care staff and families. 
• Act as a role model and preceptor to communicate, implement, and support organizational objectives and standards as they relate to the nursing mother-baby dyad.
• Assist in the development and/or review of all literature relating to breastfeeding that is distributed to families in the hospital and related to their discharge to home.
• Plan, oversee, and coordinate family and staff breastfeeding education activities.
• Provide evidence-based competency education for healthcare associates. 
• Identify the needs for and works with appropriate resources to develop education related to new technologies, procedures, equipment, and patient specific needs. 
• Mentor nursing and LC students.
• Educate and collaborate with unit based CLC and assist in the maintenance of competencies.

Collaboration: 

• Focus on multidisciplinary team building while providing breastfeeding resources and support. 
• Promote community outreach activities to share the benefits of breastfeeding. 
• Confer regularly, when appropriate, with the relevant provider and nursing staff member on each patient’s special needs, plans of care, and progress. 
• Support and model procedures and policies of the hospital and standards of nursing care. 
• Maintain awareness, and interact as needed, on any goals that may be set by the ILCA, Centers for Disease Control, and/or the State of Florida as they relate to breastfeeding and Maternal/Newborn health.

 Response to Diversity:

• Review alternative approaches and implements planned change to meet the breastfeeding mother’s needs considering cultural, social, family, and system diversity.

 Clinical Inquiry: 

• Individualize standards and guidelines for particular patient situations. 
• Question and/or evaluate current practice based on patients’ responses, review of literature, research, and education/learning. 
• Maintain the knowledge and skills needed to address questions arising in practice and improve patient care.
• Participate in departmental and hospital programs for Quality Assessment and Improvement, identifying opportunities to improve services, making recommendations and implementing actions as appropriate and consistent with the goals of Nemours. 
• Maintain data/reports on exclusively breast milk fed infants as per the Joint Commission Perinatal Care Core Measure Set.
• Disseminate research findings as they relate to lactation and incorporates these finding into nursing practices for patient care.
• Pursue continuing education relevant to LC practice.

 Systems Thinking:

• Develop, integrate, and apply a variety of strategies that are driven by the needs and strengths of the mother-baby dyad. 
• Negotiate and navigate through the system on behalf of the patient and family; anticipates needs of the mother-baby dyad as they move through the healthcare system; utilizes untapped and alternative resources as necessary.

Advocacy/Moral Agency:

• Work on behalf of the patient, family, and community; advocates from the patient/family perspective. 
• Support colleagues in ethical and clinical issues, achieved mutuality within patient/professional relationships. 
• Adhere to the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (BLCE) Code of Ethics for International Board-Certified Lactation Consultants. 

Caring Practices:

• Recognize and tailor caring practices to the individuality of patient and family; has astute awareness and anticipates mother –baby dyad changes and needs; follow the families lead; promote safety throughout mother and baby’s transition along the health-care continuum.

Position Requirements

• Graduate of accredited school of nursing, Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) required.
• Minimum one year experience required; inpatient lactation consultations preferred.
• Current Registered Nurse license in the State of Florida.
• Obtain CLC within 6 months of employment and Certified as an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) through the IBLCE Within in year of employment.
• American Heart Association BLS, NRP Healthcare Provider Course Completion required upon hire.
• STABLE Course required and maintained