Nurse-Midwife Goal: Where to start?

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Hello all,

I live in Oregon and graduate with my RN this June. I entered nursing school with the goal of becoming a Nurse-Midwife. I kept an open mind during school, just to see if anything else jumped out at me. Turns out, midwifery is completely my passion. OHSU offers an amazing nurse-midwife program and it's pretty tough to get into.

I currently work in a small town south of Portland as a CNA in the ICU. The hospital I work for has a pretty prestigious critical care internship (CCI) program you can apply for as a new grad. The CCI is basically an accelerated ICU program and you come out 6 months later as a bada** ICU nurse. The catch is, you sign a contract to stay with the hospital for 2 years full time.

My question is.... If I want to get into the masters midwifery program do you think I should just jump straight into L&D for the experience? Or do you think they would value some critical care background, making me "well-rounded"?

Thanks in advance for your help guys. :)

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Specializes in ICU Stepdown.
Hello all,

I live in Oregon and graduate with my RN this June. I entered nursing school with the goal of becoming a Nurse-Midwife. I kept an open mind during school, just to see if anything else jumped out at me. Turns out, midwifery is completely my passion. OHSU offers an amazing nurse-midwife program and it's pretty tough to get into.

I currently work in a small town south of Portland as a CNA in the ICU. The hospital I work for has a pretty prestigious critical care internship (CCI) program you can apply for as a new grad. The CCI is basically an accelerated ICU program and you come out 6 months later as a bada** ICU nurse. The catch is, you sign a contract to stay with the hospital for 2 years full time.

My question is.... If I want to get into the masters midwifery program do you think I should just jump straight into L&D for the experience? Or do you think they would value some critical care background, making me "well-rounded"?

Thanks in advance for your help guys. :)

Do you know which master's program you would want to apply to? I know some schools require specific experience so I'd look more into that.

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I want to go to OHSU and either get my bachelors while I'm working ICU elsewhere or get it while I'm working L&D. I'm just not sure which experience will be better on my resume.

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Specializes in ICU Stepdown.

I don't see specific experience requirements for their master's program but for the Midwifery DNP program, they recommend a year of L&D experience. If you want to be a midwife it is generally recommended to become an L&D or postpartum nurse.

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Wait, didn't you post the same question somewhere else? The general consensus there was that you wanna go to CNM school, work in OB/postpartum; ICU won't help you and will make the CNM admissions people wonder how much you really want to get into their very competitive program if you didn't even work in OB as a new grad.

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I did! I didn't realize this community would get back to me so quick. I tried to delete the others but I have to go through administration.

thnaks again

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Agree with PPs - if you're committed to becoming a CNM, stay focused on OB. ICU experience won't really add any value. Once you get in there, become certified as soon as you can - this will enhance your graduate school application.

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I too am going for my CNM and have talked to several midwives that I work with and all have suggested I get a good year or two of experience in L&D as a nurse first. There are several reasons why, but for me I want to know what the role of the labor nurse is exactly so that when I am a midwife I will understand and be able to work better along side them. Just my thoughts. Good luck!

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The admins will combine the two threads if you ask them. :) Then you'll have everybody all at once in one place!

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Specializes in Cardicac Neuro Telemetry.
Hello all,

I live in Oregon and graduate with my RN this June. I entered nursing school with the goal of becoming a Nurse-Midwife. I kept an open mind during school, just to see if anything else jumped out at me. Turns out, midwifery is completely my passion. OHSU offers an amazing nurse-midwife program and it's pretty tough to get into.

I currently work in a small town south of Portland as a CNA in the ICU. The hospital I work for has a pretty prestigious critical care internship (CCI) program you can apply for as a new grad. The CCI is basically an accelerated ICU program and you come out 6 months later as a bada** ICU nurse. The catch is, you sign a contract to stay with the hospital for 2 years full time.

My question is.... If I want to get into the masters midwifery program do you think I should just jump straight into L&D for the experience? Or do you think they would value some critical care background, making me "well-rounded"?

Thanks in advance for your help guys. :)

I agree with the other posters. Apply to Labor and Delivery positions if your ultimate goal is to be a CNM. If your heart is in ob, chances are, you won't be happy or fulfilled in the ICU.

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I will be applying to Frontier, and they do not require you to have that specific experience. As they put it, working as an RN in L&D is not the same as being a CNM so don't dwell on it. The experience helps you on a personal level, but for that program it won't make or break you.

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