Become a Certified Nurse-Midwife
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What is a nurse-midwife?
A nurse-midwife is an advanced practice nurse with additional training around delivering babies and providing prenatal and postpartum care to women.
Nurse-midwives are very involved in labor and delivery, sometimes never leaving the mother during the entire labor process. They are trained to recognize signs and symptoms that deviate from normal conditions and will consult with a physician who may become involved in the delivery if needed.
Although qualified to administer drugs and to perform medical procedures, those interventions are not routine for nurse-midwives, and they are used only when the mother requests them.
Most nurse-midwives deliver babies in hospitals and in homes. They also provide both prenatal and postpartum care for both mothers and newborns. In addition, nurse-midwives provide family planning and birth control counseling, and normal gynecological services such as: physical and breast exams, pap smears, and preventive health screening. In most states, nurse-midwives may prescribe medications.
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How many babies in the United States are delivered by midwives?
The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) estimates that soon one in ten babies in the US will be delivered by certified nurse-midwives. Ten years ago, only three percent of births in the US were attended by nurse-midwives. In 1998 there were 277,811 CNM-attend births in the US. (Source: National Vital Statistics Report, (vol. 48, no.3, 3/28/00) from the National Center for Health Statistics.)
Worldwide, midwives deliver more than two-thirds of births.
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What is a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner?
A Women's Health NP is focused on all aspects of women's health, from birth control and gynecological services to menopause and osteoporosis. Whereas nurse-midwives are more highly focused on issues before, during, and after pregnancy and childbirth.
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What is a Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM)?
Certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) are registered nurses who are also certified. To become certified, they must graduate from a nurse-midwifery program accredited by the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and pass a national certification exam. CNMs are educated in both nursing and midwifery and can practice anywhere in the US.
In contrast, Direct-Entry Midwives (also called Lay, Licensed, or Professional Midwives) practice midwifery, but they are not registered nurses, and are not certified.
You can find a list of Direct-Entry Midwife schools at the Natural Healers web site.
The American College of Nurse-Midwives does offer a Certified Midwife (CM) designation for Lay Midwives who graduate from a midwifery school accredited by the ACNM, and pass a certification exam. The CM designation is for lay midwives who want to show that they practice midwifery at an accredited standard.
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How do you become certified?
National certification is required in some states for licensed CNMs to practice. ACNM rules state that only graduates of ACNM accredited programs are eligible to take the certification exams for CNMs. All CNMs must pass the national board exams, which are given four times each year around the country.
There are currently nearly 50 ACNM-approved nurse-midwife degree programs. You can find a list of these schools in our directory. Some states require additional requirements for licensing of nurse-midwives. Check with your state board of nursing for details.
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How many Certified Nurse-Midwives are there?
According to the ACNM, current memberships are more than 6,700 of which approximately 5,700 are in clinical practice.
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What are the prerequisites for a Nurse-Midwife program?
Requirements vary by school, but for most programs you'll need:
- Bachelor's degree, (although it is not always required that it be in nursing)
- A current license to practice as a registered nurse in one of the 50 states
- One to two years nursing experience
- A minimum GPA of 3.0.
You can find the specific requirements for each school on their Web sites or in their application forms.
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Do I need a bachelor's degree to take nurse-midwife courses?
You will need a bachelor's degree to become a Certified Nurse-Midwife. Depending on the program, you may not need a bachelor's degree to take courses, but you'll need one to apply for CNM certification.
Do I need a master's degree to become a nurse-midwife?
Some states require a master's degree to become a licensed CNM, while some require only a bachelor's degree. The number of states (and employers) requiring master's degrees is increasing. According to the American College of Nurse-Midwives, 70 % of nurse-midwives have masters' degrees and 4 % have doctoral degrees. Most schools list their requirements in the application materials. Some schools have Master's completion programs which allow practicing nurse-midwives without a Master's degree to earn their Master's in an accelerated program.
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Where do nurse-midwives work?
CNMs work in hospitals, clinics, birthing centers, health departments, private practices, institutions, and with physicians; some may even practice on their own.
According to a recent Journal of Nurse-Midwifery survey, more than half of CNMs practice in an office or clinic setting. And most CNMs listed hospitals or physicians as their employers. (Source: "Readership and Practice Profile of the ACNM: Findings of a Direct Mail Survey," Journal of Nurse-Midwifery, vol. 39, no. 1).
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How long will it take to become a nurse-midwife?
In addition to bachelor and master degrees studies when required, length of certificate study depends on the program, but most run one to two years depending on semester schedules.
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What are the required courses for a specialty in nurse-midwifery?
Specific courses vary by program, but you can expect to see courses in:
- Anatomy
- Antepartum, Intrapartum/Postpartum
- Biochemistry
- Breastfeeding
- Epidemiology
- Family Planning
- Genetics and Embryology
- Health research
- Integration
- Laboratory Medicine
- Neonatology
- OB complications
- Pathophysiology of Gynecology and Obstetrics
- Pharmacology principles
- Primary Care of Women
- Professional Issues
Are there any distance learning programs for nurse-midwifery?
Distance learning programs are available, usually to students who live more than one hundred miles from the school. Course attendance is through videoconferencing, the World Wide Web, telephone, and fax. A few on campus visits are also required. Reading materials assigned are textbooks, online information, and publications available through libraries and direct mailings.
Clinical work is conducted near the student's location with certified nurse-midwives who are pre-approved by the college.
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Must I be a woman to be a nurse-midwife?
Midwives can be men or women, and the population of male nurse-midwives is growing. According to the ACNM, 2% of CMNs are male.
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Do I need labor & delivery experience to start a nurse-midwife program?
Check with the individual schools for details. Some schools require a particular type of labor and delivery (L&D) experience or length of experience in order to qualify for admission.
Do I have to be an RN first?
The ACNM recommends that high school students who want become CNMs "enroll in a 4-year university program that awards a bachelor's of science in nursing (BSN) degree, and then apply to a nurse-midwifery education program."
If you already have a bachelor's degree in a non-nursing field, then some schools have accelerated programs which can allow you to directly enter a BSN or MSN program, with a focus on nurse-midwifery.
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What is the average salary of a nurse-midwife?
According to the Career Center University of Missouri, "Beginning CNMs can earn between $35,000 and $40,000 per year. Average income ranges from $41,500 to $52,000 a year. Top earning possibilities could be anywhere from $50- $65,000 per year." (Source: Career Center, University of Missouri, 1999.)
Incomes vary greatly depending on years and type of experience, the area of the country you work in, benefit packages, and employment of each CNM, such as whether a nurse-midwife works within an institution or practices on his or her own.