Distance required for midwives

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I am planning to apply to programs this summer, but had a couple of thoughts. Are there regulations on how far a birthing center must be from a hospital that does deliveries? All of our birthing hospitals are 45 minutes to one hour away no matter what direction you go. I would love to open a birthing center one day, but not sure of the regulations. Also, do most facilities (any kind) require that you live a certain distance away? We are completely willing to move to wherever necessary; however, it is always nice to stay close to home and not uproot my family if necessary.

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traumaRUs, MSN, APRN

165 Articles; 21,215 Posts

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU. Has 31 years experience.

Hi and welcome.

These regulations are going to vary by state. You might want to consider looking at your states practice act.

Best wishes

LibraSunCNM, MSN

1,630 Posts

Specializes in OB. Has 10 years experience.

I don't know of any states that have regulations stating how far a birth center may be from a hospital. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Also bear in mind that there are AABC-accredited birth centers, but also many non-accredited birth centers out there. ACNM recently put out a nice PowerPoint presentation about the state of midwifery in the U.S., and one of the slides shows a map of all the accredited and non-accredited birth centers by state, hopefully you can access it:

http://www.midwife.org/acnm/files/ccLibraryFiles/Filename/000000004315/Understanding-Practice-Environment.pdf

Any job where you have to take call may require that you live a certain distance from the hospital, it varies from practice to practice.

Hope that helps.

mommy2anangel

1 Article; 151 Posts

Has 20 years experience.

Wow, thanks. That was a very informative PowerPoint. After reading it I think I need to move. Lol.

LibraSunCNM, MSN

1,630 Posts

Specializes in OB. Has 10 years experience.

Yes, I found it very informative as well. Still have a lot of work ahead of us!

AspiringNurseMW

1 Article; 942 Posts

Some state do require that... for example in NY the requirement is 15 minutes (as if its no hard enough already to open up a birth center there!!!)

Come to northeast PA and open a birth center here... Ill gladly assist you in anyway I can lol!!!!

Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health. Has 10 years experience.

Just want to throw out there that when you are on call, you generally have to be within ~20-30 minutes of the facility. Doesn't mean you have to *live* that close. Pretty much every hospital/birth center will have a call room.

mommy2anangel

1 Article; 151 Posts

Has 20 years experience.

Thanks guys. I appreciate all of your input. I agree we do have a lot of work ahead of us. The pay for Oklahoma seems so low on the PowerPoint. Thankfully I am not doing it for the pay.