NICU travel to CNM

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I need some advice as I’m deciding which direction to take my nursing career. I have been a NICU nurse for almost 5 years now. Right now I’m working as a NICU travel nurse.I’ve always been very interested in L&D and becoming a CNM but the opportunity never presented itself. I’m finally at the point where I ready to change specialties and further my education. I have no L&D experience but I’m want to apply to to CNM program. I feel like I need to get some L&D experience before I do. Do you feel that it’s necessary for me to work staff in L&D before applying? The thought of waiting another year to apply is not ideal but I want to do the best thing. Thanks for your advice in advance! 

Specializes in OB.

I agree, the students I've encountered from Frontier have been excellent, and I've encountered several sub-par students from Columbia, Vanderbilt, and Yale.  Your program is what you make of it, you'll do very well at Frontier!

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Does anyone have experience with Georgetown? I just accepted my admission there today. I was accepted to both Georgetown and Cincinnati and I picked Georgetown because they seem to have more clinical placement support.  Wondering if anyone had heard anything about either of these programs? Thanks! 

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Specializes in Mother Infant Child Care.

I graduated from Georgetown in November 2020 with a class of about 10. I chose it based on the dual degree and the clinical placement team. Clinical placement was a real pain although they always came through even if it was the last minute or at a distance greater than 100 miles. They do provide a small stipend to offset the costs of having to be somewhere else if that is necessary. I never had to find any place myself even though I made many suggestions which were turned down for reasons I did not always understand. From what I learned from the team and from other students clinical placement is a national concern. I would say it was my greatest challenge of school and I often felt angry that I was permitted this opportunity to earn this title without the proper clinical placement to obtain it (atleast it was always a struggle where they told me they didn't have anything till the last minute) but it did all work out in the end. Covid added another layer of difficulty and I had to sit out from mid March to the end of August and graduate months after expected but they seem to have everything back on track now. During the final rotation I had some problems with a new clinical site where I feel like my opinion was devalued over the opinion of the clinical site which was never used before and that was a painful experience but I persisted and can look back and know now knowing that the problems made me a stronger person and midwife.  I felt the classes were of a high caliber as the professors were fair and knowledgeable and the standards were high. I felt prepared to handle the real world when I got to clinical. I think the Georgetown reputation goes far although I felt they rested on their laurels heavily and should not be charging as much as they do. Sometimes I wish I went somewhere else that would have been a better financial decision but I no longer have regret because I've finished and am proud to have finally achieved my dreams. I think any program is going to be what you make of it. Unlike nursing school where you have to fight amongst a group to get clinical experience and don't really learn to be a nurse before actually working as a nurse, graduate school offers the opportunity to really work as a midwife before becoming licensed and that was an important  and nice difference for me. I had a friend who went to Cincinnati and I don't think he had the rigor in his program as Georgetown did. That was just my sense but I could be wrong. Let me know if you have any other questions! and Congrats on your admission! 

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1 hour ago, nja06 said:

I graduated from Georgetown in November 2020 with a class of about 10. I chose it based on the dual degree and the clinical placement team. Clinical placement was a real pain although they always came through even if it was the last minute or at a distance greater than 100 miles. They do provide a small stipend to offset the costs of having to be somewhere else if that is necessary. I never had to find any place myself even though I made many suggestions which were turned down for reasons I did not always understand. From what I learned from the team and from other students clinical placement is a national concern. I would say it was my greatest challenge of school and I often felt angry that I was permitted this opportunity to earn this title without the proper clinical placement to obtain it (atleast it was always a struggle where they told me they didn't have anything till the last minute) but it did all work out in the end. Covid added another layer of difficulty and I had to sit out from mid March to the end of August and graduate months after expected but they seem to have everything back on track now. During the final rotation I had some problems with a new clinical site where I feel like my opinion was devalued over the opinion of the clinical site which was never used before and that was a painful experience but I persisted and can look back and know now knowing that the problems made me a stronger person and midwife.  I felt the classes were of a high caliber as the professors were fair and knowledgeable and the standards were high. I felt prepared to handle the real world when I got to clinical. I think the Georgetown reputation goes far although I felt they rested on their laurels heavily and should not be charging as much as they do. Sometimes I wish I went somewhere else that would have been a better financial decision but I no longer have regret because I've finished and am proud to have finally achieved my dreams. I think any program is going to be what you make of it. Unlike nursing school where you have to fight amongst a group to get clinical experience and don't really learn to be a nurse before actually working as a nurse, graduate school offers the opportunity to really work as a midwife before becoming licensed and that was an important  and nice difference for me. I had a friend who went to Cincinnati and I don't think he had the rigor in his program as Georgetown did. That was just my sense but I could be wrong. Let me know if you have any other questions! and Congrats on your admission! 

Wow! Thank you so much for all of the valuable information! It’s very much appreciated! Congrats on graduation, such an accomplishment! I am a little nervous about the clinical rotations. I have been reassured that my area shouldn’t be a problem because I live in the Los Angeles/Orange County area but it still makes me pretty nervous because I can’t pick up and leave to another state. Were you able to maintain a job during the program and if so how much were you able to work? I currently work full-time 12 hour shifts. I was told it’s possible to work up until the last semester than then you usually have to go per diem. Not sure if that’s accurate though.... 

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Specializes in Mother Infant Child Care.

Thank you! I thought it wouldn't have been a problem to find placement because I literally moved to Cali from Florida and was surrounded by midwives but they said Cali and Florida are notoriously difficult. At this point, I'm not sure where isn't difficult but they figured it out.During my first clinical semester I had to travel to 3 different sites driving 2.5 hours each way to one of them.  I worked as a traveler for 3 assignments and then switched to a per diem staff but then I decided to move back to Florida for more support and was only supposed to be out a year but it ended up being longer due to covid. a lot of my classmates were able to work per diem till the end because they stayed in the same vicinity but I moved 9 times in my first year and that made everything quite difficult. I was on call consecutively 24/7 for over 3 months in my final term so working was no longer possible for me.  I feel like I could have managed a light job in my 6th term but I felt like I didn't have time to get hired. Thankfully I had the privilege to be able to skip work but I wish I didn't because I wouldn't have had to borrow so much money.  I think people find a way to do the things they need to do so it would def be possible to figure out some work if that is what your life will require.  I didn't want to work too hard and then fail because I thought there is no point of doing this if I don't succeed.  The first and the 5th term were the hardest for me personally and the fifth took my complete attention to get through. 

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10 minutes ago, nja06 said:

Thank you! I thought it wouldn't have been a problem to find placement because I literally moved to Cali from Florida and was surrounded by midwives but they said Cali and Florida are notoriously difficult. At this point, I'm not sure where isn't difficult but they figured it out.During my first clinical semester I had to travel to 3 different sites driving 2.5 hours each way to one of them.  I worked as a traveler for 3 assignments and then switched to a per diem staff but then I decided to move back to Florida for more support and was only supposed to be out a year but it ended up being longer due to covid. a lot of my classmates were able to work per diem till the end because they stayed in the same vicinity but I moved 9 times in my first year and that made everything quite difficult. I was on call consecutively 24/7 for over 3 months in my final term so working was no longer possible for me.  I feel like I could have managed a light job in my 6th term but I felt like I didn't have time to get hired. Thankfully I had the privilege to be able to skip work but I wish I didn't because I wouldn't have had to borrow so much money.  I think people find a way to do the things they need to do so it would def be possible to figure out some work if that is what your life will require.  I didn't want to work too hard and then fail because I thought there is no point of doing this if I don't succeed.  The first and the 5th term were the hardest for me personally and the fifth took my complete attention to get through. 

Oh no! I don’t like to hear that California is difficult. I don’t have the ability to move around to different states unfortunately. Were you in the LA area when you lived here? The admission counselor I have been dealing with has been assuring me I shouldn’t have an issue but I hope that’s not them just leading me on.... I mean the whole reason I picked Georgetown and am willing to pay the higher price is for clinical placement help, so I hope it is worth the extra money.... 

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Specializes in Mother Infant Child Care.

exactly! me too that is why I wanted to give you full transparency. Honestly every single student I know had issues with clinical whether they were in my program or not. GU does have the placement team which helps immensely and did end up doing all the heavy lifting for me even though they stressed me out and didn't communicate well at times. I remember when I decided to go to GU I traveled to DC because I thought living there would make it easier for them to ensure clinical placement for me but they told me, don't worry it will be easy no matter where you are and so I went back to Cali. I did live in the LA area but it was before my clinical time.  I think its better if you're staying in one area that they find things because they'll have a lot of time to plan in advance. it was harder for me with all the moving. When I lived in Cali I never had to move, just long commutes. When I came back to Florida I didn't have to leave the state but I would rent an airbnb and stay for my shifts for a few days and then go home.  Several of my cohort hate to leave their state to get experience but they were willing to do whatever it takes at that point. Ugh its hard but where there is a will there is a way! I think the stipend was 1200/month.  

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I definitely appreciate the transparency! I am a little stressed but it sounds like that would be the case with whatever school I picked when it comes to clinical... I hope it all works out! Thank you again for all of the info! It’s very much appreciated!

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Specializes in NICU.

This message is for all the NICU travel nurses. Have you guys taken the Prophecy NICU exam? If so, how was it. I’m so nervous about it. I’m starting my assignment soon. 

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