How does one become a midwife?

I am betting it was just more that they want to train people their way, etc.

Lots of schools are like that in general. I once took the FBI entrance exam and I heard that they preferred that you didn't have previous training in shooting guns because they like to do it fresh from the beginning their way (don't know if that was true, just another example.) And you could always pick up a "bad habit" if you learned stuff from someone who wasn't using evidence based practice or whatever. I'm sure all of you know of some nurses who don't practice the way they should. I doubt the statement was insinuating that L&D floors are doing bad practice as a whole, KWIM?

Then again, you'd hope that someone who's been accepted into graduate school would have good enough judgement to practice in a decent way, &/or have the capability to unlearn "bad habits" that the school doesn't teach &/or pick up a lot more good than bad. Maybe the school just wants to recruit and get their $$$.

Hello!!!

Before starting answering, I d like to mention that Nurses Midwives do not have to be RN anymore only. There are a few schools accredited by ACNM that are offering MS in Midwifery. The graduates take the same boards of exam offered by ACC and have the same scope of practice than a CNM.. but they are labeled CM (certified Midwives)

I have never heard of anything like this but I can understand where that would come from..
When I entered MW school, (although I am an RN) I had no experience in L&D but had an extensive experience as a doula in hospital and home birth settings. During my clinicals (esp. the Intrapartum ones), I had trouble ajusting to the hopital settings and the spirit of hospital birth.. I am also a slow learner when it comes down to hands on, and had trouble to communicate with RNs used to work with CNMs with a previous experience in L&D. It was very hard emotionally and I was losing my self confidence; being in such a spiral, I decided to take some time off and get a job in L&D, to harden a bit and get the rythm. I do not regret it but it is hard sometimes for many reasons...
The old eating their youngs, the preconcept of some nurses against home birth MW management, the idea that continuous monitoring is a must etc...managing second stage in labor (counting until 10 etc..). I am not saying that all RNS are like this, they are not (especially where i am working), but depending on the setting, the unit manager, and the education that onehas regarding birth, some students may be better off w/o having to go through L&D. As far as I am concerned when I am working as a labor nurse, i am always trying to remember that i can integrate components of the MW spirit that r compatible with my RN scope of practice. But it can be hard to remember where one comes from, especially in a climate of increasing liability for MDs Midwives and RNs..
So i think my experience in L&D is a very positive one because I came to it with values favorable to MW..

Most of students entering the field are not youngins and i am sure that they can forge their own ideas about habits, values etc...
IMO, there is not one kind of MW but a gamet of variations starting from the MW seeing birth as a natural physiological event to the MW who truly believes that managing birth in a high tech environment is also MW.. but this is another topic..

Ginny

I thank you for the respectful answers, mitchsmom and parteira (means "midwife" does it not?). I can understand this, in a way, really.

BUT-----If you have read many of my posts, you know how I don't like a lot of hospital practices and very much respect desires of birthing families, and incorporate them into my careplanning whenver possible. I think you will also find MANY other nurses like me. We can and DO think "outside the box" despite some suffocating hospital policies under which we are sometimes forced to practice. There are tw sides to that coin, and I don't mean to start a debate about these, or where the best venue is for giving birth! (huge can of worms in and of itself I can honestly see room at the table for us all. Certainly, I can understand the philosophy of hospital birthing is undesireable, suffocating, or intimidating to some birthing families and midwives, too.

But I can't help but say the CNMs I have seen "in action"--who were ALL prior RN's by the way, were the BEST. I can't believe any school would really think to exclude from admission someone like me, with 7 years of good experience as an RN in several L and D settings.....some of which include helping out midwives, who in the middle of the night, brought in patients who for one reason or another, could not complete their homebirth at home. We are seen as both "enemy" and yet "saviors" in some situations. I find it interesting, to say the least.......

I only speak for myself here but: Unlearning bad habits is not hard to do, if they are truly bad, and evidence supports not doing certain things anymore. In other words, show me I am wrong and watch me change my ways, fast. Anyhow I digress......

It was just the first time I had heard anyone say university CNM/midwifery programs sought to exclude prior RN's due to bad habits they may have. I guess I am behind the curve. Thank you for helping me see the logic here.

Anyhow, I again thank you for the thoughtful, respectful responses. I am always glad to learn something new or hear from a viewpoint different than my own!

Yes parteira means midwife and parteiranagua means midwife in the water..:-))
hence the dolphins ...

i know u guys r out there!!!! Thank God!!!! And Thank you!!!!

Always will be happy in keeping the dialogue!!! And yes there is so much that I learned from ladies like u!!
Ginny

Oh, Smiling... I am sure that they want experienced RN's.. I'm sure the school must have just meant it kinda like the FBI did... more of an acceptance of inexperience than not accepting experience (even if it may have not been the best phrasing). Most RN's are doing a great job and I'm sure they bend over backwards to get them!!

I am just sharing what I've learnt from personal research. I wanted to know what next step should be right out of BSN, so that I would be on the right track, so I inquired into these schools, and interestingly, they have different approaches as well as different curricula, so it will behoove anyone of us, who are thinking about it, even still an undergrad like me, to investigate to schools we might want to apply to at this early stage. The person I spoke to is actually the director of the school, and it's a major school in a major city.

I just wanted to share my experience and be of some help, so even though I am high opinionated about L&D vs. MW approaches, this is not the place to work out this issue. In the end, it all comes down to our personal core values and outlook. However, I could see the school's point of view. I had interned at L&D, I was saddened to see that natural birth was not encouraged , and most of the approach was aggressive "just-in-case" intervention. I can see how, if I stayed in that environment, eventually I, too might lose confidence in a woman's ability to perform a very natural act. So maybe not all hospitals are that aggressive, but I certainly can see validity of the school's position.

ps.
By the way, I don't think the school prohibited applicants who had L&D experence already - and l, too, am sure that they'd be clamoring for anyone applicants who come with L&D experience.

I heard that about one school too Deb. They didn't want us nurses who had been sucked into the medical model applying. I think it's a shame there is so little room for middle ground with some people. I certainly always advocate for less interventions, but my time in high risk L&D taught me when they were needed and if I ever go on for my CNM, I know that experience will serve me well.

I agree; extremes on either end can lead to dangerous consequences and bad outcomes. This much, experience has taught me well.

Thank you for your answer, epiphany!

Hello!!!

I can relate to this statement, but it is important to remember that the hallmark of MW care is the physiologic aspect of childbirth in the low risk population, and not the high risk population who is not the majority of the pregnant population.
High risk OB is not in the scope of practice of MW.

The MW ,at her beginning level of practice, is taught to recognize danger signs in AP care or IP care, in order to be able to refer or transfer the patient who will need it to an OB practitionner.
Ginny