Male nurse midwife

GrumpyRN, NP · Jan 1, 2015

No!!!

Why would you want to?

Red Kryptonite · Jan 1, 2015

Maybe because birth is cool?

There are tons of male OBs, so why not?

AspiringNurseMW · Jan 1, 2015

It's not about being a choice, it needs to be something you WANT to do? WHY are you considering this?

JessicaDanielle · Jan 1, 2015

If it is something you want to do and have a passion for, it is a good choice

GrumpyRN, NP · Jan 1, 2015

I am a very unreconstructed male who is just a bit (read a lot) old fashioned and set in my ways. Midwives are often known as madwives over here. If you really want to do it then go for it. I did some time in the labour wards while I was a student and can think of nothing I would hate more.

AspiringNurseMW · Jan 1, 2015

Midwives known as madwives? I don't see how that possibly helps the OP answer his questions. A male midwife is uncommon, however in a hospital setting I don't see why not, just as many OB s are male.

No job for a man? Meet the male midwives - Telegraph

Emergent, RN · Jan 2, 2015

No offense to the aspirations of the OP, but I personally would have never sought care from a male midwife. Perhaps others would feel differently. I had 6 home births, and one time did have to resort to a male doctor who was willing to attend, but that never would have been my first choice.

GrumpyRN, NP · Jan 2, 2015

Midwives known as madwives? I don't see how that possibly helps the OP answer his questions. A male midwife is uncommon, however in a hospital setting I don't see why not, just as many OB s are male.
No job for a man? Meet the male midwives - Telegraph

Umm this forum is Men in Nursing, I am a man in nursing.

From the article you quoted; "There are currently 103 men working in the field, compared to 31,189 women, and the proportion has remained roughly the same for the last ten years." 0.33% of a population is hardly representative.

I made a point that in the UK midwives are very often known as madwives because they think they are better than everyone else and they think they know more than everyone else. Remember in the UK midwife is a separate training from nursing.

I have had run ins with them in the past. Once had a midwife interfere in the care of her colleague in our resus room when she had ongoing ACS (Acute Coronary Syndrome). This was something she knew nothing about but it did not stop her trying to tell us what to do. What was worse was the patient having the ACS wanted to go back to the labour suite to be looked after by the midwives rather than go to the medical ward. Stupidity at its finest.

OB's are irrelevant to this discussion, we are talking nurses, not doctors.

lakmom12 · Jan 2, 2015

Out of my three labors my one with a male nurse is both the most memorable and best one I had. If labor could have ever been termed "fun" it was definitely because of my experience with this individual. He had a way of putting his patients at ease that just made you trust him automatically. Never judge a book by its cover or you might miss out on an awesome experience. I say if your heart is truly leading you in that direction then go for it.

La Cubanita RN · Jan 2, 2015

It's nice to follow your heart but I would always prefer a female midwife. I had 3 kids and only 1 delivered by a man. It would be a tough market but hey you may be the one to really give men a voice there who knows

AspiringNurseMW · Jan 2, 2015

I'm sorry, but if OP is in the US and considering working at a practice and hospital, then OB is actually a similar role in the sense that they see patients through prenatal care and have shifts on call for low risk deliveries. Many practices in the US have midwives working alongside OBs because many states require physician oversight or collaborative agreements in order to practice as a midwife.

So a male midwife in an out of hospital setting such as birth centers or homebirths, it's probably not going to work. But seeing how most midwives in the US practice in hospitals anyways, I don't see a problem.