Not a nurse yet, what CNM program is best?

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Greetings all from the chilly mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico! I'm not yet a nurse, and haven't acquired any kind of pre-med courses.

Word on the street is that there are programs that train folks to be nurses one year, then the second year train them to be midwives. There is very little break between the years, let alone breaks for the holidays... I believe one of these programs is @ OHSU in Portland, OR. I can't seem to find enough information on their website about the prerequisites. I know I need to call, but being out of the country for the time being it's a little difficult.

Have any of you done this kind of program? How difficult are they to get in? Do you know of any other program around the country that have a similar agenda?

Also, how possible is it to be a nurse practitioner AND nurse midwife? Is that even advisable?

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

That program requires you to have a bachelor's degree in another area. Basically, you do an accelerated BSN program the first year, and the midwifery program the second year.

That is the only program I'm aware of that accelerates the MSN portion in such a fashion. There are lots of aBSN programs around, where you can get your BSN/RN licensure after 12-18 months of coursework, but all of them require you to already have a bachelor's degree.

As far as being a nurse midwife and an NP - yes, it's definitely possible. I work with a few such providers. You do your MSN in one or the other, then you go back and do a post-master's certificate program in the other. What would be your purpose of doing that, though, if you know you want to be a nurse midwife? The ones I know who have done that, became NPs first, then realized they really wanted to be midwives. They don't actually work as CNMs AND NPs.

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Specializes in Eventually Midwifery.

Do you have a bachelor's level degree in another area? OHSU offers an accelerated BSN program in which, assuming you already have a degree in another area, you can spend 15 months to get your BSN. The admissions requirements for the accelerated program are found here. Then you will need to apply to the Master's, which will require at least another 2 years of study. They do recommend a year's worth of labor/delivery nursing experience before applying, but does not look like they require it. The requirements can be found here. I'm not really sure where you have heard of a program that does an accelerated masters.....most programs require 600-1000+ clinical hours for MSN Midwifery, not sure how you could do that + didactic course work in only one year. TBH, I just finished an accelerated BSN program and could not imagine doing an accelerated masters. I'll be fine taking my time when I get there. I used to be upset that I would have to work for a year as an RN to get into Frontier, but after having finished with my undergrad, I need a break.

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dandelionmama, there are a few other schools that have a program such as the one you mentioned, where you complete an accelerated BSN program the first year, and then seamlessly progress into a nurse-midwifery program. Yale University, the University of California- San Francisco, Vanderbilt University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Emory University are institutions that have this program, in addition to Oregon Health Sciences University. Some of these programs will award you a BSN after the first accelerated year, while in other programs, if you take and pass the NCLEX, you become a registered nurse without a BSN. For many schools, the basic prerequisite requirements include anatomy and physiology I and II, lifespan developmental psychology, statistics, nutrition, and microbiology. Your best bet, however, is to research the school websites and locate admissions requirements there. Good luck!

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Specializes in CNM.

You can look at American College of Nurse-Midwives and go to the Education and Careers section to find more programs like that.

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I believe ECU in North Carolina as an accelerated BSN program that you can then follow up with their midwifery MSN (which is almost entirely online).

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