AABC Birth Center Workshop question for current Frontier students.....

[mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP]

So, while I'm reading thru the oodles of info for Frontier I find that you must travel to and from Kentucky two times (once for Frontier Bound, once for Clinical Bound) which is clearly stated 27 million different places and I was totally fine with that.

During my readings I start looking at the class descriptions and I find this one class, the first CNM class you take called NM601 The Role of Midwifery and Birth Centers in America and I'm reading thru it with great intensity when I realize it actually states "while attending the AABC Birth Center workshop" and I start looking further into this and these workshops do not appear to be online and of course nowhere near me. So am I correct to assume that I will also travel to this as well and need to make appropriate arrangements?????

I'm totally clueless about this workshop because it's not actually stated as a required travel arrangement like your Frontier and Clinical Bound travels are stated.

Is this a special workshop for Frontier students or do you just go to the AABC website site and pick the one you want to attend? Do you still have to pay your tuition for your NM601 class PLUS the cost of the workshop? Does it fit into your class schedule and will you complete the workshop in time to finish the NM601 class? When I looked it didn't appear they had very many workshops per year which is why I asked.

Is there any other fine print I need to be aware of, another travel that isn't listed somewhere????

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me!!!!

[mommy2boysaz]

Gosh, I'm a Frontier student (in my Bridge year) and I hadn't heard of this!

I'll look into it and see what I can find out.

[Selke]

Yes, you are required to attend one of these workshops. Look at the AABC website for dates. You will be given information about this at Frontier Bound and with the NM601 class. You will be eligible for an incomplete for the class if you have to wait to take the workshop. Frontier students aren't required to pay workshop fees, but I think there is a fee for the course materials, and you have to pay your own transportation and hotel. Nobody likes spending the money. You might get lucky and live relatively close to one of the workshops. Frontier really pushes out of hospital births, and several faculty members have been instrumental in the BC movement over the past few decades. Kitty Ernst is one of them ... she founded AABC and is once again president of ACNM. Frontier does not require a thesis but you write a comprehensive proposal for a BC over several courses, so you use information from the workshop to complete this project. Like it or not ... there are many opinions about this BC workshop and the BC paper, but it will not be going away in favor of other types of projects for decades to come.

[mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP]

Thank you so much for that information.

I think the workshop and the paper(s) involved are a great idea and the info on the AABC website is great. Gives you another side of the coin so to speak. Who knows where I'll end up after graduation and this can be just yet another great experience for me while I'm in school.

It's just another expense I'll need to learn to budget and plan for, no biggie. At least I know it's coming now.

Thanks again!!!

[simmaplease]

This is exciting to hear! I want to go on to study Midwifery after I graduate with my ADN, and I am a big supporter of birth centers and home birth. It's very nice to know that Frontier's curriculum includes so much about operating a BC. Another reason I'll apply there :)