Advice for current ADN student

[kristimarieSC]

I am currently an ADN student and for the past 5 years have considered pursuing a CNM. I met with a local CPM yesterday to gain more knowledge, which I did, but have more questions she could not answer, as she seemed opposed to the US medical model's approach to birth. I guess I'm asking for general advice for those who have already walked this path? I'm thinking an online CNM program, like frontier, is this the right way to go? are there obstacles to this educational path I should anticipate? does anyone have general advice? I feel very connected to this path, and do not anticipate changing my mind, but would love to hear from those who know the reality.

[queenanneslace, ADN, MSN, APRN, CNM]

I guess I'm asking for general advice for those who have already walked this path? I'm thinking an online CNM program, like frontier, is this the right way to go? are there obstacles to this educational path I should anticipate? does anyone have general advice? I feel very connected to this path, and do not anticipate changing my mind, but would love to hear from those who know the reality.

I'd be much better at answering specific questions rather than general ones.

You're a nurse? You want to become a nurse-midwife? Become a nurse-midwife.

There are a number of threads regarding CPM vs CNMs. (And I'm sure I've posted in quite a few of them.) If you do a little searching you may be able to find more of the answers you're looking for and more reasons that one would choose to become a CNM over a CPM.

Nurse-midwifery in a nutshell:

broader scope of practice

legal and licensed in all states

prescriptive authority

multiple career opportunities and pathways as an APRN

Obstacles - it is possible to spend A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOT of money becoming a CNM. Beware, there are programs that offer to make you a CNM quickly, but you will pay for it. And those student loans will take a long time to pay off. Depending on where you live it can be hard to find a job. In school, it can also be hard to secure clinical sites - there was just an article published in the ACNM Quickening newsletter regarding this issue, I think.

I'm not really sure what you are asking about, though. Did the CPM say something about CNMs being "under the thumbs of doctors," or being "medwives" or "not providing *true* midwifery care" or being "mini-OBs" or being unable to "provide personalized, individualized care." or being "McMidwives" or something like that?

I'm only asking because I've heard all these things before - and I even spent a foray in CPM-land, but I've decided to become a nurse-midwife for my nutshell reasons listed above. I think it's good to ask those questions - is nurse-midwifery becoming too medicalized and impersonal? etc. And it's good to come to your own answers.

I'll encourage you to keep getting more experiences with midwives - of all stripes - so you can decide first-hand what you want to do.

[klone, MSN, RN]

If you decide to go into nurse-midwifery, I would recommend getting your BSN first, then matriculating into a MSN program.

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

I am a CPM and a current CNM student. I've posted TONS about my journey here, you can search my posts. It's 5am and I've been up all night, so that's all i have to say right now. Except, I would encourage you to get some doula training and get some experience that way. . . it's a great way to get a sense of the realities of working in obstetrics. It's a difficult field, the hours will kill you and it's absolutely not sunshine and roses all the time.

Definitely, if it is between CPM and CNM training, I would go for the CNM route. The only (major) downside is the unfortunate lack of out-of-hospital birth experience in most programs. I am very grateful for my background in home/birth center birth, as it really helped me keep perspective while I was doing rotations at a high risk tertiary hospital.