OB/GYN NP vs Certified Nurse midwife

[Calil1nz]

Can anyone tell me the difference between and OB/GYN Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Nurse Midwife? Any input on the education required for each would be helpful as well. Thank you.

[beckinben, CNM]

Hopefully Siri will see this and answer your questions about OB/GYN NPs. I am not sure if that certification is available anymore.

The education for a CNM in my program was 5 semesters full time - I was in a master's degree in nursing program. Two semesters were classroom (or online) courses, mostly courses taken with all the master's students from all the various NP/CNS programs, things like nursing theory, advanced assessment, and advanced pharmacology. Two semesters were a mix of classroom and clinical experiences in prenatal care, postpartum care, primary care of women, intrapartum care (labor and delivery) and newborn care. The last semester was "integration", which was a full-time internship with a CNM practice.

To be accepted to a CNM program, you need to have a BSN (or an ADN if you want to apply to a RN-MSN program). Most programs require some bedside nursing experience, usually L&D experience. There are also some master's direct entry programs for CNM's for people with a bachelor's degree in something other than nursing, as well as some DNP programs.

More information about CNM education can be found on the American College of Nurse-Midwives website - http://www.acnm.org/careers.cfm?id=80

Becki

[jer_sd]

OB/GYN NPs are certified by NCC (www.nccnet.org) and are now called a woman's health NP. In order to meet this certification you must graduate from a Masters degree program or post masters certificate which is accredited by either the NLN or the CCNE. A WHNP might have more exposure to GYN and primary care during clinical rotations.

Scope of practice has a lot of overlap in GYN and prenatal care but WHNPs do not deliver babys in most states, in an emergency possibly but not a routine part of the job. There are some programs that allow graduates to take both certification exams, but a CNM has a good scope of practice in most states so this may not be worth the extra classes depending on your desired scope of practice.

Jeremy