Midwifery Options?

Nurses General Nursing

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:idea: :idea:

okay....I KNOW i want to be a CNM. here's the question....

There are NO CNM's in South Arkansas. I've looked at Frontier, Univ of Colorado, Univ of Kansas.....I have the list from the ACNM website of approved schools.

Being the first in my area, would you reccomend I move off to a school and then come back?

or Go through Frontier and maintain a presence in my community?

I am set to start teaching childbirth classes in the Spring.

ANYONE???

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I thought if you went through Frontier you had to have a preceptor in your community, and if you are the first then that would be hard... Seems like if you are going to be the first it would be to your advantage as far as learning to go somewhere that there are plenty of folks to learn from. Good luck!

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Specializes in midwifery, ophthalmics, general practice.

what no midwifes???????????

who delivers your babies?????? not the docs?

Karen

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lol...yes, the docs do it...

the closest is Midwife is in Little Rock..3 hours away. precepting with her is impracticle.

WOW. nothing like holding your nose and jumping off of a bridge.

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WOW!! I can't believe you don't have any midwives. That's amazing to me. CNM's do 40% of the deliveries where I'm at.

I'm planning on starting at Frontier in about 2 years. I don't think it will work for you to go to Frontier without having a midwife available to precept with. You COULD possibly move to an area with more midwives just for your practicum time, but as that time lasts a year or so, it might be better just to go to an onsite school. You'll have more CNM resources there anyway.

GOOD LUCK!

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Yep, I hear you ....we did not have any midwives in southwest Oklahoma, either. I had never met or worked with one til I moved up here to WA State (what a shame). I wish you luck....you may have to move a temporarily to get near a preceptor. I don't know of any correspondence program in which you can work w/o one near you. Either that or move to a place with a University Midwifery program. Those seem to be your options. I wish you luck.......midwives are needed in rural areas, but not very welcomed or well-backed. I suspect finding M.D. back-up will be a very big challenge to you....CNM's must have them, tho. ....Hang in there and Fight the good fight with fortitude.;)

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Thanks for the encouragement...i THINK my OB/GYN will back me up. he ahas a female doctor ....i'm unsure of her..her title only says women's health practitioner.

and i'm HOPING AGAINST HOPE that becoming a Bradley teacher will help gain some recognition as one who knows SOMETHING about birth..

btw, I LOVE THIS BOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:roll

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Specializes in Corrections, Psych, Med-Surg.

I would suggest you THOROUGHLY explore future job opportunities in this field before investing the time and money required to be certified.

As you have noticed in your own area, midwife jobs are few and far between in much of the country. In part because they are often required to work in conjunction with a MD, and with birth-related lawsuits being so financially rewarding for plaintiffs, the liability for MDs, as well as for insurance companies, has made this field too often cost-prohibitive.

There is good reason for the scarcity of midwives, and increasingly for OB docs in this country. It does not look like the situation will improve in the near future. IMHO.

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