Become a Perinatal Nurse Practitioner or Perinatal CNS

Beginning with pregnancy, perinatal nurses perform the following tasks:

• Educate women about childbirth techniques and prenatal health
• Treat women for high-risk pregnancy conditions
• In the delivery room, they support women through the course of labor and childbirth
• After the baby is born, they teach mothers about feeding, mother-child bonding and general infant care.

Perinatal CNSs and perinatal nurse practitioners can find career opportunities in these types of inpatient and outpatient settings:

• Hospitals
• Birth centers
• Community health centers
• Physicians' offices
• Adult education centers
• Private practice.

As advanced practice nurses, perinatal nurse practitioners and CNSs must hold a Master's Degree in Nursing (MSN) and a post-master's certificate in their specialty. Two-year master's degree programs build on your undergraduate nursing study and typically require that you have already earned your registered nursing (RN) license. In general, MSN programs involve classroom work and a significant number of hours of practical experience, which may include clinical, teaching and research time.

After you complete your program, becoming a certified nurse practitioner (NP) or clinical nurse specialist (CNS) can offer you distinct career advantages. Certification demonstrates to employers that you meet the highest level of standards of practice. In turn, passing that certification exam can translate into greater career opportunities and increased salary potential. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) offers certification for NPs and CNSs who meet specific eligibility requirements.

Registered nurses in general can anticipate a 22 percent job growth rate through 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And nursing schools now offer a number of programs, such as online, direct-entry MSN and accelerated nursing degrees, to attract more nursing students and meet the growing demand for flexible education options.

Perinatal nurses offer women and families vital care and service in the midst of what could become a highly stressful, confusing time in their lives. Perinatal nursing delivers extraordinary personal rewards—and you could not ask for a better nursing career outlook.
_{Sources:
NurseWeek.com, 2009.
DiscoverNursing.com, 2009.
NurseCredentialing.org, 2009.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010
PayScale.com, 2011}