junipers

Calinca: It actually sounds like you have a pretty good grasp of what clinicals, write-ups, and the pharmacology class will be like! Pharm involves some memorization of pathways, very minimal calculations and a lot of memorizing specifics about drugs uses/adverse effects/interactions, etc. Every clinical is different, but for the most part you mainly work with one patient per shift and typically one nurse as well. Your experiences with student nurses at Valley and Overlake sound a lot like what you will likely be doing as a student nurse during maternity clinicals. As far as shoes, nurses generally swear by dansko/sanita clogs. I bought a pair, but they take about a year of wearing before they stop feeling strange and unsteady! For most clinicals, I wear white tennis shoes. Our cohort was told to buy white leather shoes for clinicals, but we found out pretty soon that absolutely no one wears them and I am happy that I never bought them! So far, there has been no separation between the specialties and yes, we separate in the summer. Congrats on picking the CNM specialty - I am so incredibly excited to start the midwifery portion of my education!

NursePracHereIcome - Nope, I had mine over the phone. I flew out to Oregon to interview at OHSU and didn't have the funds or time to interview in Seattle as well!

NursePracHereIcome - I moved from the east coast with my boyfriend and our cat to attend this program, and we are loving Seattle so far!

Calinca - I believe we have the same screen name! I think Calinca (Калинка) in Russian means Juniper. Clinicals so far: 1. Be prepared for a ton of paperwork related to your assigned patient! The pre-clinical and post-clinical work often takes 12-15 hours. 2. Come to clinical prepared with a plan for which specific competencies you are going to attempt to meet that day. At the end of every clinical experience, you have to prove that you've met all of the required competencies. 3. For our cohort, the clinical experiences were in this order: Geriatrics in the summer, Maternity in the Fall, Pediatrics and Psychiatrics in the Winter, community and Med/Surg in the spring. For the cohort above us, the order was a little different, so it might be different for you as well. 4. Clinicals for the first year happen at many different hospitals and facilities, mostly in Seattle but some a short drive away. So far, I have gotten by without a car by carpooling and walking to clinicals. 5. For most clinicals, plan to show up the day or night before your clinical day to gather information and meet your patient. 6. Clinicals start about a month into the program, but they start off fairly easy. Let me know if there is anything else you would like to know about clinicals or the program!

Hi Group, current APNI here. Congrats on getting interviews! If you have any questions for a first year APNI in the midwifery track, let me know. Warmth, Junipers

Hi Group, I am a current APNI in the nurse-midwifery track. I am happy to answer any questions that I can. I know this is a stressful process and applaud you guys for going through the entire applying for grad school circus!

Hello Group, I am currently an ABM student at a different university, but I wanted to let you know that I was accepted into the OHSU program for nurse-midwifery two weeks before the program started! So, if you are put on the waitlist, don't despair and try to keep your life really flexible until the last minute!

I'm declining my acceptance to pre-specialty nurse-midwifery, so someone will be getting off of the waitlist soon!

Woohoo! I got in for midwifery!

I was told by my local CNM that burnout in the midwifery field is very high - I believe she said that the average CNM only practices full-scope for 5 years! Does this seem accurate? If so, how are people avoiding it? - Junipers

It is a lot, no question. I could do the second half of the program part-time while working as an RN, and I may well do that. For nurse-midwifery, there are many fewer masters entry programs than other specialities and most of them leave you with over $100,000 of debt. It is important to me to become a midwife and be established in a practice before starting my own family, and since I am in my late twenties, I feel that time is a definite factor. I could be a midwife in three years, but with substantial student loans - or I could apply to accelerated BSN programs for next year and work for a couple of years as a nurse before applying to midwifery programs, becoming a midwife in 5-6 years but with half the debt. Either way, I have the possibility of halving the debt in three years (either working as a midwife in an underserved area for that time, or becoming a midwife the traditional route and only taking on half the debt). Since I am more interested in practising as a CNM than an RN, perhaps the (ridiculously) expensive program is not such a bad idea? Edit: My estimate of $115,000 includes living expenses It is a difficult decision and I appreciate everyone's comments!

I am contemplating joining a masters-entry program that will leave me over $115,000 in debt by the end. Starting salary for certified nurse-midwives (my chosen field) seems to be about $70,000-$75,000 a year. Loan repayment programs seem to pay back about $25,000 per year of service in medically undeserved areas. Does anybody have any thoughts on the wisdom of enrolling in this masters-entry program? Thank you for your input, Junipers

The skills of nursing and the skills of a midwife do overlap somewhat, and I can see where having some nursing experience may make me a better CNM. I think being very open to learning from fellow nurses and other midwives and NPs will also help me gain skills and be a better practitioner. I want to clarify that in order to get in to one of these programs, you have to have: 1. Life, work, and volunteer experience that shows that you are able to work with people in a clinical setting and are devoted to direct service. 2. Great grades in Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Microbiology, Chemistry, Nutrition, Human growth and development, Statistics, and sometimes a few others. 3. A bachelors degree (many applicants have degrees in social work, psychology, public health, woman's studies, or other subjects that make for well-rounded NPs) 4. Commitment So, I do believe that I can have the basis for being a great CNM after 2.5 years of intensive (no breaks, through the summers) training. What does worry me is the feasibility of finding my first CNM position. Does anybody have any feedback on finding employment without working as an RN first? Thanks for all of the comments! Junipers

Thanks SkiBum - yours is a very refreshing outlook! Does anyone else have similar or opposing thoughts on this?

I still have hope for us, Banana!