How many of you became a CNM without L&D?

[BabyLady]

I am just curious.

I currently work in the NICU and part-time assisting in well-baby and postpartum. I am considering applying to a CNM program.

While I am not dismissing the fact that it is best to have labor and delivery experience, with my age, I just don't have the luxury of switching nursing specialties, again, percepting to a new position and then try to apply to a program.

I would only like to hear from anyone who have actually done it...not opinions from those that think it is best...as I am conceding that it is best to have L&D experience..but I just would like to hear from the other side.

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

I know a CNM who went to school w/o ever having practiced as a nurse at all. She was a pt care tech (which I gather is the same as a CNA) on a L&D unit while in nursing school and then going directly into CNM school.

[T3downey]

Thanks for this post. I am currently an ER Nurse and was wondering about going for my CNM.....but I was concerned about not having L&D experience! You gave me a little boost of confidence that it will be OK!

P.S. Although I have been interested in midwifery/pregnancy/labor/birth, etc for years, and did do some doula work before going to nursing school years ago.

[arabianeyez83]

Doula work is great experience!

[RNmilwife]

I just applied to the Frontier program. I have no L&D experience. I would love to have some but no L&D in my area will hire without L&D experience. It's so frustrating! I have been told that the training is great and that not working in the field won't hurt. I'm giving it a go, you should too! Sounds like you have plenty of nursing experience.

[etuckerRN]

I have applied to Frontier's CNM program for this summer (Class 90), and I have ZERO L&D experience. I just started working Postpartum in January. Prior to that, I only have acute psych experience!

My dear friend and midwife told me it wouldn't matter to have the experience. She's precepted several from Frontier who were fabulous (and no experience)!

So - that said - and with her encouragement, I'm giving it a go!

Edna

[Krshmt]

I would imagine that not having any nursing experience at all would create quite a steep learning curve when working as a midwife. The same would apply for L&D experience - HOWEVER, having ANY nursing experience would certainly help.

I have to respectfully disagree. The medical and midwifery approach to birth is very different and nursing generally follows the medical approach (although I have met nurses who also approach it more "miwiferyily")

[tablefor9, RN]

I have to respectfully disagree. The medical and midwifery approach to birth is very different and nursing generally follows the medical approach (although I have met nurses who also approach it more "miwiferyily")

I would submit to you that the benefit to having actual L&D RN experience is in the ability to recognize cues about how a particular labor is progressing, when a situation is drifting from a variation of normal to abnormal. Or, what might help in a situation that has the potential to get ugly. Yes, the medical model and midwifery model are very different. Perhaps if we are only going to do deliveries with women of normal weight, great nutrition, no health risk factors, dead set against epidural, anti-intervention of any kind, we might anticipate that we'll never need the experience L&D nursing can offer. I think that's pie in the sky.

It's not a natural process when we're doing cervidil at 37 weeks, breaking water and starting Pit. Sorry. We may not be looking at the easiest labor when we've got a patient who spent the majority of her pregnancy in a recliner and may very well have a baby that's OP or coming down asynclictic...and how would you know what that feels like, anyway, without a fair amount of experience with laboring women and vag exams? These are often the most difficult components to learn, and they only come by experience. There are things a savvy nurse, or midwife, can do to assist a baby to rotate and things to come right, but how would you know without experience? DO you realllllly think that the CNM clinical I-V, about 750 hours in most schools, is going to do that for you? When labor RNs who do this 40 hrs a week take a year or more (that's 2000 hrs) to become competent (not expert)?

I'm all for the sisterhood of midwifery, and in fact, am a Frontier student nurse-midwife myself. But, let's be realistic. There IS a benefit to L&D experience. I'm not saying you can't be a good midwife without it, but cripes, let's just admit that the L&D RN gets the jump out of the starting gate, ok?

[klone, MSN, RN]

At the very least, having that L&D background means you don't have to learn how to read EFM strips and do an SVE.

I agree that the learning curve is going to be a lot steeper for the midwifery student who doesn't have L&D background.