So, I am finishing up my last bit of externship in L and D and a couple of the staff nurses there have made it their personal mission in life to dissuade me form starting my combo CNM/WHNP in the fall because:#1- people don't use midwives anyway, #2- you are going to wind up working as a staff nurse because there are no jobs, and my personal favorite#3- it's stupid and a waste of money to go to midwifery school.
Wow. Obviously I know that these are not valid arguments. I am just getting a little worn down from hearing them all day and could uses some good vibes. :trout:
Well I can say that midwives seem to do pretty ok in Seattle area. The University of Washington Medical Center has a midwifery practice housed within it. As a matter of fact they have a job posting on their website for a midwife right now.
At the hospital I work there is a bit of an anti-nurse midwife attitude because of the attitude of the midwives we have. They are in a huge power struggle (one-sided) with the docs. It has been in my experience (where I work) that the NM pressure patients into decisions. I have had a 16 year old patient tll me that they told her her baby was going to be "stupid" if she didnt breast feed......what a way to manipultate..completely unethical. They dont inform moms accurately that the birthing process IS painful and I feel there is a little bit of guilt that goes along with moms who choose to go with an epidural..or they get to the point that it is too late for an epidural and the mom cant push through the pain and then they end up with morphine, where the mom cant hardly remember the details of what should have been the most memorable moment of her life. One of the NM has a PhD and tells pt's to call her Dr (though I thought a PhD was only a doctor in an academic setting..)
I truly think this is not the norm for Nurse midwives...but one of the things at my facility that makes the nurses have a less than ideal perception of midwives.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the horizontal violence that occurs within nursing, and the jealousy that occurs when nurses pursue more education. Hospitals are part of the problem with inflexible ideas about staffing, shifts etc. Seems there's not much accomodation for older nurses (ie if you can't cut it with a 12 hr shift tough luck, you're on the scrap heap) those with families etc. Given the huge number of nurses and the shortage, you would think that we could be more in charge of restructuring our work lives. Personally, I restructured my way out of the institutional constraints through more education!
Generally, I find midwifery to be well accepted and well integrated in my community(Canada) Sure, there are some power struggles, and like anything else people love to talk about the negative experiences rather than the positive. I don't know anyone who practices as mentioned above, and would consider it my professionl responsability to address those kind of situations as they occurred.
And, BTW, why is anyone giving morphine to a woman in advanced labour? Haven't they heard of entanox? I.V . Fentanyl? Just curious....
I don't know much about L&D, however, the few times I have floated to the nursery I have found the CNM to be an assest. One of the CNM in our facility performs circs on newborns. If I ever become pregnant again, I want a CNM to deliver.
So, I am finishing up my last bit of externship in L and D and a couple of the staff nurses there have made it their personal mission in life to dissuade me form starting my combo CNM/WHNP in the fall because:#1- people don't use midwives anyway, #2- you are going to wind up working as a staff nurse because there are no jobs, and my personal favorite#3- it's stupid and a waste of money to go to midwifery school.
Wow. Obviously I know that these are not valid arguments. I am just getting a little worn down from hearing them all day and could uses some good vibes. :trout:
Thanks.
Sad, but true. Don't let your goals be known to other nurses.
Sometimes you just have to consider the source!!! By that I mean there are just some people who are like that. I used a midwife myself and it was such a wonderful experience, sometimes there are people who have to experience something to really understand it and have to tear it down when they don't.
Those folks don't know what they're talking about, birthmama. My next child is going to be delivered by a CNM if I can help it. My experience (I work mother/baby and nursery) in talking with the L&D nurses in our hospital is that the more a nurse has been "raised" into the interventionalist, "birth-is-an-emergency-waiting-to-happen" mindset, the more he/she is likely to knock nurse-midwives. I personally wish there were more of you. Don't let anyone stand in your way.
kerry
lisal11
22 Posts
Well I can say that midwives seem to do pretty ok in Seattle area. The University of Washington Medical Center has a midwifery practice housed within it. As a matter of fact they have a job posting on their website for a midwife right now.