Case Study Of Martha's Profession

On November 28, 2016, I interviewed Martha Ashlock. Martha is a Lactation Consultant at DePaul Hospital in St. Louis. The first question I asked Martha was what made her choose that profession. She first started her profession as a nurse in the maternity/ labor and delivery department because this was the area that was willing to hire her after graduating. A couple years later, the hospital closed and she started a new job at a different hospital as a case manager. With this job, she helped moms out a little bit with breast feeding. Her boss realized how good she was at helping the mothers out and then encouraged Martha to get the credentials to be a lactation consultant. I then asked her to describe her education background. Martha then …show more content…
Martha stated that it would be a good idea to get a job dealing with the maternity and postpartum department. She also said that it is good to take course that pertain specifically to breast feeding and to become a CLC so then she can get the required hours to be a IBCLC. Skills and personal qualities that are most important for someone in Martha’s profession include being able to have the patients and teaching skills to help the mother and baby learn. Also you need to be socially experienced with all age groups and cultures. Martha deals with patients as young as 15 and as old as 50. Also in some cultures, the mother won’t allow the consultant to see the breast so she has to figure out a way to teach the mother without being able to help in that way. Martha also says it is important to be able to find the solutions to a problem under pressure. Also, I asked Martha what were some organizations that someone should consider joining to obtain additional information about a lactation consultant. Some good organizations would be the United States Breastfeeding Committee, the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and United States Lactation Consultant.
I also asked if her profession was expanding or developing into new directions. Martha said that her profession was definitely growing. She stated that 15-20 years ago, most hospitals didn’t have lactation consultants. Martha also stated that the increase of breast feeding correlates with the increase of educated women. Since more women go to college today, they have an increase amount of knowledge about the benefits of breast feeding. The average starting salary in Missouri is $66,173-$83,318. When Martha started in 2001, her starting salary was