Midwife, advancing, and worldwide possibilities?

midwifetobe85 · Dec 2, 2012

Hello everyone! I'm interested in taking up a Midwife BSN, but I'd like to go further with it and I've not seen much information on the subject. I have a few direct questions though, which are -
- If I did my 3 year BSN as a Midwife, could I do a course ontop of that and become a RN (such as an 18 month course, or would I have to go back to university and do a 3 year RN specific BSN)? So I'd be a nurse-midwife and could potentially go into either field (as opposed to only being a midwife)?
- What can midwives "specialise" in past their initial degree? Such as, nurses can go into ICU, are midwives able to go into those fields as well or do they have their own set of specialties? Is there a website list or a location for this information someone could show me to?
- I hear a lot of problems with English RN immigrating to other countries due to not having the "time" in education (such as, the NCLEX needing a specific amount of hours in education in various fields). If I was to just leave with my midwifery degree, would I not be able to obtain a license in the USA (for example)? If not, how could a midwife get the time needed, what sort of option are available?
Any help or advice/links on these would be extremely helpful, thank you very much!
Extra note - I actually have a UK Passport and a Green Card for the US, as I'm married to a US citizen, so that side of immigration isn't applicable to me, it's more about the education and licensing.

Hi there!

So I'm by no means an expert in this area, but ill see if I can help out. A little about me: I recently obtained my BSN and RN and I am an aspiring nurse midwife. I looked into this stuff a little because I originally wanted to study midwifery in the UK. I have always admired the fact that people in the UK still know what a midwife is! Here, awareness of midwifery care is growing as well as the number of midwives, but it's still a struggle. I regularly encounter people who don't know what a midwife is. The good news midwifery popularity is definitely growing.

From what I can tell, unfortunately there is not really any reciprocity. The UK does not seem to acknowledge the CNM and the US does not acknowledge the UK-trained midwife. Here to become a midwife you need to be an RN and have a Masters in Nursing or Midwifery. The questions I would ask you would be are you definitely coming to the US? If so, which states? There is a highly respected online program which recognizes foreign training. After completing their program you can sit for the same exam that nurse midwives take but after passing you are given the title Certified Midwife (CM) instead of Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). The downside to this is that the CM is only recognized in 3 states - NY, NJ, and RI. If you were certain you would be in those states this could be an option after you complete the BS in Midwifery from the UK. Take a look:

http://www.philau.edu/midwifery/mscertapo.htm

I'm not familiar w the issues surrounding the number of hours in a nursing program r/t sitting for the NCLEX. But, what about doing the BS in nursing and then doing a shorter course in midwifery to work there as a midwife? Like this one:

http://www.city.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/midwifery-78-week-course-for-registered-nurses

If you're not sure where you'll end up, perhaps you could do it that way with the longer nursing course followed by the midwifery course. That way, you'll be able to work as a midwife in the UK and if you come over here you'll have enough nursing hours to sit for the NCLEX. You'd then need to complete a masters in nursing or midwifery. Frontier Nursing University is a wonderful distance program which you could look into once you have the RN: http://www.frontier.edu/

Whichever way you choose, I think it would be a long haul. Unfortunately I'm not sure if there's a faster way to do it. If only there was some reciprocity!

As far as "specializing" goes, midwives here don't really do that the way nurses do. Some midwives have specialties like working mostly w adolescents or menopausal women or being proficient in herbal medicine. Here they're considered primary care providers and provide not only perinatal care but also well woman care and primary care. In most states they have prescriptive abilities. They are pretty autonomous too- consulting w physicians as needed but not all the time. You can pretty much choose what population you most want to work with but there aren't really additional certifications. Personally, I don't think its necessary anyway. In our nursing/healthcare system they're considered mid-level providers and are essentially one step below physicians. Let me know if I can answer more questions. Best of luck!

StargazerLily · Dec 2, 2012

Hi there!
So I'm by no means an expert in this area, but ill see if I can help out. A little about me: I recently obtained my BSN and RN and I am an aspiring nurse midwife. I looked into this stuff a little because I originally wanted to study midwifery in the UK. I have always admired the fact that people in the UK still know what a midwife is! Here, awareness of midwifery care is growing as well as the number of midwives, but it's still a struggle. I regularly encounter people who don't know what a midwife is. The good news midwifery popularity is definitely growing.
From what I can tell, unfortunately there is not really any reciprocity. The UK does not seem to acknowledge the CNM and the US does not acknowledge the UK-trained midwife. Here to become a midwife you need to be an RN and have a Masters in Nursing or Midwifery. The questions I would ask you would be are you definitely coming to the US? If so, which states? There is a highly respected online program which recognizes foreign training. After completing their program you can sit for the same exam that nurse midwives take but after passing you are given the title Certified Midwife (CM) instead of Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). The downside to this is that the CM is only recognized in 3 states - NY, NJ, and RI. If you were certain you would be in those states this could be an option after you complete the BS in Midwifery from the UK. Take a look:
Philadelphia University: M.S. in Midwifery - Advanced Placement Options
I'm not familiar w the issues surrounding the number of hours in a nursing program r/t sitting for the NCLEX. But, what about doing the BS in nursing and then doing a shorter course in midwifery to work there as a midwife? Like this one:
Midwifery 78-Week Shortened Programme for Nurses | City University London
If you're not sure where you'll end up, perhaps you could do it that way with the longer nursing course followed by the midwifery course. That way, you'll be able to work as a midwife in the UK and if you come over here you'll have enough nursing hours to sit for the NCLEX. You'd then need to complete a masters in nursing or midwifery. Frontier Nursing University is a wonderful distance program which you could look into once you have the RN: Frontier Nursing University - Distance Education from the Birthplace of Nurse-Midwifery and Family Nursing in America
Whichever way you choose, I think it would be a long haul. Unfortunately I'm not sure if there's a faster way to do it. If only there was some reciprocity!
As far as "specializing" goes, midwives here don't really do that the way nurses do. Some midwives have specialties like working mostly w adolescents or menopausal women or being proficient in herbal medicine. Here they're considered primary care providers and provide not only perinatal care but also well woman care and primary care. In most states they have prescriptive abilities. They are pretty autonomous too- consulting w physicians as needed but not all the time. You can pretty much choose what population you most want to work with but there aren't really additional certifications. Personally, I don't think its necessary anyway. In our nursing/healthcare system they're considered mid-level providers and are essentially one step below physicians. Let me know if I can answer more questions. Best of luck!

Hello! Thank you for such a detailed reply. I'd like to give you a bit of information and ask you some more questioned based on what you've said

I can't actually do a RN course in the UK, without having to pay for it. 6 years ago I went to do a RN course and during the first placement I had to leave due to monetary problems at the time. The NHS was funding me at the time, and they say now that because I had a previous bursary in nursing I can't have another one, but offered midwifery. Hence the entry with midwifery as opposed to going into nursing. I also can't afford to support myself to go back into a nursing course, so need the NHS support to try. I would also be probably living in the southern states, my husband is currently in NC so it would probably be in this area

You've said about midwives being primary care providers, and dealing with women's health, this is an area I'm really interested in going into, but not sure about how I could or what I'd even be asking for. To do this sort of role, what would I need? In the US I'd assume I'd need BSN Nursing, then midwifery, but then where would I go from there? And what are the job titles for a person who works with women's health (as silly as it sounds, I don't know the "technical" job title it for)?

You also seem to know a lot about the American side, do you know much more about the English side? Like, if I was to do Midwifery could I do a course after that to be a nurse?

Thank you again for your help! I'll have a look at the links listed and see what I can find out :)

missnurse01, MSN, RN · Dec 3, 2012

I am not too sure, as I am not in the field, but I know that nurse practitioners see women's health type pts. Either for certified nurse midwife or nurse practitioner, you will have to have a BSN prior to getting into the master's program. Then do your 2-3 year advanced nursing courses. You are looking at 4 years at the minimum with an accelerated BSN program, or up to 6-7 with a traditional program. And this is with most of your prereqs done. I am not sure if you will be eligible for financial aid as you are not a citizen, so you may have to get private loans to pay for all of this.

Good luck.

You could always call any school that offers the cnm or np degrees and speak with their nursing dept about the progression.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Dec 3, 2012

US requires nurses to be general trained and will require hours both clinical and theory in Paeds, Mental Health, Obstetrics and Adult. If your program doesn't meet this there are no courses currently i the UK to make hours up. Many UK nurses have struggled to get sorted for the US due to the way UK train nurses.

StargazerLily · Dec 4, 2012

I think everyone is getting a little confused by my questions, or missing out. The first 2 are the more important ones to me, not the last 1 about the US, and I'm planning on living and working in the UK, and getting my education within the UK

So the main question is, in the UK (not the US) can I do anything with a midwifery degree to become a registered nurse? And what kind of specialties can I do with a midwifery degree?

Silverdragon102, BSN · Dec 4, 2012

You mention the US in your first post hence my answer. You could see about the 18 month bridge to RN and I am sure many have done it. Have you looked any up to see what requirements are needed for bridge? Some used to require a employer in that area. I knew someone once who did general trained who wanted to top up to Paeds and had to be employed in that area to do the course, she once employed in Paeds did top up and eventually managed the ward

StargazerLily · Dec 4, 2012

You mention the US in your first post hence my answer. You could see about the 18 month bridge to RN and I am sure many have done it. Have you looked any up to see what requirements are needed for bridge? Some used to require a employer in that area. I knew someone once who did general trained who wanted to top up to Paeds and had to be employed in that area to do the course, she once employed in Paeds did top up and eventually managed the ward

I am interested in the 18 month bridge? Where can I find more information out about that? I heard of a Nurse-to-Midwife bridge, but not a Midwife-to-Nurse bridge? As I'm interested in midwife-to-nurse