Published Mar 16, 2007
Calil1nz
4 Posts
Can anyone tell me the difference between and OB/GYN Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Nurse Midwife? Any input on the education required for each would be helpful as well. Thank you.
beckinben, CNM
189 Posts
Hopefully Siri will see this and answer your questions about OB/GYN NPs. I am not sure if that certification is available anymore.
The education for a CNM in my program was 5 semesters full time - I was in a master's degree in nursing program. Two semesters were classroom (or online) courses, mostly courses taken with all the master's students from all the various NP/CNS programs, things like nursing theory, advanced assessment, and advanced pharmacology. Two semesters were a mix of classroom and clinical experiences in prenatal care, postpartum care, primary care of women, intrapartum care (labor and delivery) and newborn care. The last semester was "integration", which was a full-time internship with a CNM practice.
To be accepted to a CNM program, you need to have a BSN (or an ADN if you want to apply to a RN-MSN program). Most programs require some bedside nursing experience, usually L&D experience. There are also some master's direct entry programs for CNM's for people with a bachelor's degree in something other than nursing, as well as some DNP programs.
More information about CNM education can be found on the American College of Nurse-Midwives website - http://www.acnm.org/careers.cfm?id=80
Becki
jer_sd
369 Posts
OB/GYN NPs are certified by NCC (www.nccnet.org) and are now called a woman's health NP. In order to meet this certification you must graduate from a Masters degree program or post masters certificate which is accredited by either the NLN or the CCNE. A WHNP might have more exposure to GYN and primary care during clinical rotations.
Scope of practice has a lot of overlap in GYN and prenatal care but WHNPs do not deliver babys in most states, in an emergency possibly but not a routine part of the job. There are some programs that allow graduates to take both certification exams, but a CNM has a good scope of practice in most states so this may not be worth the extra classes depending on your desired scope of practice.
Jeremy